Seminario de Microeconomía Aplicada - Does Watching Women Work, Work? The Effect of Television on Female Labor Outcomes

Abstract:  This paper examines the effect of female empowerment in media on female labor market outcomes using Latin American telenovelas. Using generative AI, He construct a Female Empowerment Index (FEI) for these TV shows from 1960 to 2024. he show that FEI exposure during the impressionable years increases the likelihood of labor force participation among Latin American women. To identify the causal effect of FEI exposure, he  implement an instrumental variables strategy using detailed data on television signal coverage in Mexico. The causal estimates confirm the positive effect of FEI exposure, with an effect size comparable to previous studies. Furthermore, FEI changes account for a significant fraction of the aggregate increase in female labor force participation observed over this period. Moreover, both the emotional framing of narratives and the types of jobs depicted play an important role in shaping the effects.

About the exhibitor:  Javier Gonzalez is an Ph.D. Candidate in Economics at Southern Methodist University, specializing in applied economics at the intersection of culture, media, and gender. He will join the University of Zurich as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Professorship for Management and Economics of Digital Transformation in August 2026. His research has two main focuses: using generative AI to measure values displayed in cultural markets at a massive scale, and examining how gender norms shape the behavior of men and women and their aggregate economic implications.

Exposure time: 1 hora y 30 minutos