Women's Liberation as a Financial Innovation

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Hazan, Moshe; Weiss, David; Zoabi, Hosny
• 署名单位: Tel Aviv University; Center for Economic & Policy Research (CEPR); New Economic School
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1082
• DOI: 10.1111/jofi.12829
• 发表日期: 2019
• 页码: 2915-2956
• 关键词: UNITED-STATES; LAW; expansion; EVOLUTION; MARKETS; rates

摘要

In one of the greatest extensions of property rights in human history, common law countries began giving rights to married women in the 1850s. Before this women's liberation, the doctrine of coverture strongly incentivized parents of daughters to hold real estate, rather than financial assets such as money, stocks, or bonds. We exploit the staggered nature of coverture's demise across U.S. states to show that women's rights led to shifts in household portfolios, a positive shock to the supply of credit, and a reallocation of labor toward nonagriculture and capital-intensive industries. Investor protection thus deepened financial markets, aiding industrialization.