Women, Medieval Commerce, and the Education Gender Gap

30 Pages Posted: 26 Feb 2013

See all articles by Graziella Bertocchi

Graziella Bertocchi

Università di Modena; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Monica Bozzano

University of Milan

Date Written: February 2013

Abstract

We investigate the historical determinants of the education gender gap in Italy in the late nineteenth century, immediately following the country's Unification. We use a comprehensive newly-assembled database including 69 provinces over twenty-year sub-samples covering the 1861-1901 period. We find robust evidence that female primary school attainment, relative to that of males, is positively associated with the medieval pattern of commerce, along the routes that connected Italian cities among themselves and with the rest of the world. The effect of medieval commerce is particularly strong at the non-compulsory upper-primary level and persists even after controlling for alternative long-term determinants reflecting the geographic, economic, political, and cultural differentiation of medieval Italy. The long-term influence of medieval commerce quickly dissipates after national compulsory primary schooling is imposed at Unification, suggesting that the channel of transmission was the larger provision of education for girls in commercial centers.

Keywords: Education gender gap, family types., Italian Unification, medieval commerce, political institutions

JEL Classification: E02, H75, I25, J16, N33, O15

Suggested Citation

Bertocchi, Graziella and Bozzano, Monica, Women, Medieval Commerce, and the Education Gender Gap (February 2013). CEPR Discussion Paper No. DP9359, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2224283

Graziella Bertocchi (Contact Author)

Università di Modena; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF)

Rome, 00187
Italy

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Schaumburg-Lippe-Str. 7 / 9
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Monica Bozzano

University of Milan ( email )

Via Festa del Perdono, 7
Milan, 20122
Italy

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