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Female autonomy generates superstars in long-term development: Evidence from 15th to 19th century Europe

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  • Baten, Jörg
  • de Pleijt, Alexandra

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 economic development. This view is supported by studying female autonomy and numeracy indicators of 27 countries and 268 regions in Europe between 1500 and 1900. We approach endogeneity issues by exploiting exogenous variation in gender-biased agricultural specialization.

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  • Baten, Jörg & de Pleijt, Alexandra, 2018. "Female autonomy generates superstars in long-term development: Evidence from 15th to 19th century Europe," CEPR Discussion Papers 13348, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13348
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    2. Palma, Nuno Pedro G. & Reis, Jaime Brown & Rodrigues, Lisbeth, 2021. "Historical gender discrimination does not explain comparative Western European development: evidence from Portugal, 1300-1900," CEPR Discussion Papers 15922, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Faustine Perrin, 2022. "On the origins of the demographic transition: rethinking the European marriage pattern," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 16(3), pages 431-475, September.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Early modern growth; Female autonomy; human capital formation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N13 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N33 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

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