Date of Award
Spring 2017
Degree
M. S. in Economic Theory and Policy
Advisor
Thomas Masterson, Ph.D.
Abstract
Sexual orientation wage gap has been an emerging topic in economic analysis. In United States, most of the research is focused on national level. However, given the deeply divided political ideologies on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) rights issues such as same-sex marriage legislation among different states, one might wonder whether the wage gap would be also different. In this paper, we take the first step to present a systematical comparison of the sexual orientation wage gap from the past 15 years between Massachusetts and Alabama, who are opposite sides on almost every issue regarding LGBT rights. We employed Ordinary Least Squared regression and Oaxaca decomposition to analyze the wage gap and found that there is a smaller sexual orientation wage gap in Massachusetts than in Alabama, and the wage is also closing faster in Massachusetts.
Access Control
Open Access
Recommended Citation
Zhang, Shuhao MS, "Decomposition of Sexual Orientation Wage Gap in Massachusetts and Alabama from 2001 to 2015" (2017). Theses - Graduate Programs in Economic Theory and Policy. 8.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/levy_ms/8