From Stagnation to Sustained Growth: The Role of Female Empowerment
American Economic Review
vol. 103,
no. 3, May 2013
(pp. 545-49)
Abstract
This paper explores the role of gender equality over a long-run economic and demographic development path of industrialized countries. Our unified cliometric growth model of female empowerment suggests that changes in gender relations are a key ingredient of economic development. The economy evolves from a Malthusian regime--with slow technological progress, low income and low fertility--to a Modern Growth regime, with high living standards and low fertility. The rise in technological progress, together with improvements in gender equality, generates a positive feedback loop that engages the process of human capital accumulation (economic transition) and triggers the demographic transition.Citation
Diebolt, Claude, and Faustine Perrin. 2013. "From Stagnation to Sustained Growth: The Role of Female Empowerment." American Economic Review, 103 (3): 545-49. DOI: 10.1257/aer.103.3.545Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- E23 Macroeconomics: Production
- E32 Business Fluctuations; Cycles
- J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
- N30 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: General, International, or Comparative