Arbeitspapier

A Strictly Economic Explanation of Gender Roles: The Lasting Legacy of the Plough

We show that the descendants of ancient farmers may have an interest in marrying among themselves, and thus maintaining the gendered division of labour, originally justified on comparative-advantage grounds by the advent of the plough, even after they emigrate to a modern industrial economy where individual productivity depends on education rather than physical characteristics. The result rests on the argument that, if efficiency requires the more productive spouse to specialize in raising income, and the less productive one in raising children, irrespective of gender, an efficient domestic equilibrium will be implemented by a costlessly enforceable pre-marital contract stipulating that the husband should do the former and the wife the latter. A con-tract may not be needed, however, if time spent with children gives direct utility, because an effi cient equilibrium may then be characterized by little or no division of labour.

Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 8668

Classification
Wirtschaft
Bargaining Theory; Matching Theory
Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
Subject
plough
comparative advantage
gender
matching
hold-up problem
contract enforcement
migration

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Cigno, Alessandro
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute (CESifo)
(where)
Munich
(when)
2020

Handle
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET

Data provider

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Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

  • Cigno, Alessandro
  • Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute (CESifo)

Time of origin

  • 2020

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