Inflation is a problem for everyone, but women perceive it more than men, and have higher expectations of its growth.
With direct repercussions on spending habits and consequently on monetary policy.
According to a study carried out by three economists of the European Central Bank, and published on his blog, the 'gender gap' on perceived inflation is "quite substantial".
The study examines data from the latest Consumer Expectations Survey (CES) in August, which shows that the expectations of women and men diverge by nearly one percentage point.
The main cause of the difference is that women place greater emphasis on perceived increases in food prices, a sector that weighs most on general expectations.
The second reason is a different attitude of the two sexes towards the future: "Men are more confident about their expectations", explain the experts, and tend to give very precise inflation numbers, including decimals.
While women are more negative about the economy, more uncertain about the outlook and tend to round up estimates.
While men don't pay much attention to food, they worry about the cost of transportation, clothing and real estate on the other.
A difference that, according to the authors of the study, could reflect "the different division of housework between men and women".
Also because this distinction does not exist in singles: in the sample that makes up the ECB survey, aged between 35 and 49, the perception of inflation in the various sectors is identical for both genders.
It is only in couples that there are differences.
Economists estimate that that higher percentage point in women's perception raises their expectations of food prices by 0.40 points.
The perception of men, on the other hand, has an impact of just 0.26 points.
The numbers are reversed when we look at other sectors, because there are many on which men have higher expectations than women.
It happens on health care (0.12 percentage points compared to 0.11 for women), real estate (0.11 against 0.08), clothing (0.12 against 0.07) and transport (0.07 against 0.02).
Separating polls data by gender, the ECB blog points out, is very important for the future of monetary policy.
"Perceptions influence behavior in a myriad of ways," economists explain.
For example, from the latest data it can be said that "women may be less willing to cancel, postpone or reduce their holidays when energy prices rise, or they may be less affected by prices when they have to buy a car".
With evident repercussions on aggregate demand.
It is important for central bankers to understand how consumers shape and update their inflation expectations.
First of all "it helps to identify which type of inflation is important for consumers", and then "it improves the analysis of the macroeconomic implications of monetary policy decisions".
(HANDLE).
