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Development versus Legacy: The Relative Role of Development and Historical Legacies in Achieving Gender Equality

Author

Listed:
  • Selin Dilli
  • Auke Rijpma
  • Sarah Carmichael

Abstract

Economic development is often held to be beneficial for gender equality. However, there is good reason to believe that long lasting institutions like religion, legal traditions, and family practices, also matter. This paper provides an empirical assessment of the relative importance of development and historical determinants of gender equality at the cross-national level. To capture this long-term relationship, a new index of gender equality that stretches back to 1960 is introduced. Besides data on legal and religious traditions of countries, we also employ lesser known data on family systems in the analysis of the index. We find that variables on the long lasting institutions of countries can be as important as economic development in determining gender equality outcomes. Thus, our study highlights the importance of considering the contextual and historical conditions of a country when analysing the determinants of gender equality gaps.

Suggested Citation

  • Selin Dilli & Auke Rijpma & Sarah Carmichael, 2013. "Development versus Legacy: The Relative Role of Development and Historical Legacies in Achieving Gender Equality," CESifo Working Paper Series 4411, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_4411
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    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp4411.pdf
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Graziella Bertocchi & Monica Bozzano, 2015. "Family Structure and the Education Gender Gap: Evidence from Italian Provinces," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo, vol. 61(1), pages 263-300.
    2. Kravtsova, Maria & Libman, Alexander, 2023. "Historical family structure as a predictor of liberal voting: Evidence from a century of Russian history," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 47(2).
    3. Le Bris, David, 2020. "Family Characteristics and Economic Development," MPRA Paper 105325, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender; family systems; economic development; gender empowerment index;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • N00 - Economic History - - General - - - General
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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