Question: You are at a political rally with some friends. A candidate for state office states that working women earn about 60 cents for each dollar that working men earn. The candidate says, "This is dearly evidence that employers discriminate against women. This gap between the earnings of men and women will never dose because professions women tend to choose are traditionally low paying and the professions men choose are traditionally high paying. I propose that the government create a panel to decide what jobs should pay so that people of similar skills and education earn the same amount.

Suppose it is true that the skills and education required to do each job in question 1 are, in fact, nearly identical. What explanation would an economist likely propose to explain why the equilibrium wage differs by $10,000 across these markets?