Work

Women’s Suffrage and Children’s Education

Year: 2021

Type: article

Abstract: While a growing literature shows that women, relative to men, prefer greater investment in children, it is unclear whether empowering women produces better economic outcomes. Exploiting plausibly exogenous variation in US suffrage laws, we show that exposure to suffrage during childhood led to large increases in educational attainment for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, especially Blacks and Southern Whites. We also find that suffrage led to higher earnings alongside education gains, although not for Southern Blacks. Using newly digitized data, we show that education increases are primarily explained by suffrage-induced growth in education spending, although early-life health improvements may have also contributed. (JEL H75, I21, I22, J13, J15, J16, N32)

Source: American Economic Journal Economic Policy

DOI: 10.1257/pol.20180677

Authors: Esra Kose, Elira Kuka, Na’ama Shenhav

Institutions: Bucknell University, National Bureau of Economic Research, George Washington University, Dartmouth College

Language: English

Topic: Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics

Subfield: Gender Studies

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, Gender equality, Quality education

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Academy of Education