Female Autonomy Generates Superstars in Long-Term Development: Evidence from 16th to 19th Century Europe
74 Pages Posted: 3 Dec 2018 Last revised: 14 May 2021
Date Written: December 2018
Abstract
Many countries did not accumulate sufficient human capital to be successful, because they did not make use of the potential of the female half of their population. Other countries did the opposite and became "superstars" and pioneers in long-term human capital development. This view is supported by studying female autonomy and numeracy indicators of 27 countries and 153 regions in Europe between 1500 and 1900. We are using the demographic indicator age at marriage as a proxy indicator for female autonomy. We approach endogeneity issues by exploiting exogenous variation in gender-biased agricultural specialization.
JEL Classification: N13, N33, O40
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)
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