Work

Engines of Liberation

Year: 2004

Type: article

Abstract: Electricity was born at the dawn of the last century. Households were inundated with a flood of new consumer durables. What was the impact of this consumer durable goods revolution? It is argued here that the consumer goods revolution was conducive to liberating women from the home. To analyse this hypothesis, a Beckerian model of household production is developed. Households must decide whether or not to adopt the new technologies, and whether a married woman should work. Can such a model help to explain the rise in married female labour-force participation that occurred in the last century? Yes.

Source: The Review of Economic Studies

DOI: 10.1111/0034-6527.00326

Authors: Jeremy Greenwood, Ananth Seshadri, Mehmet Yorukoglu

Institutions: University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of Rochester

Language: English

Topic: Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics

Subfield: Gender Studies

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Gender equality, Decent work and economic growth

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W3122264146

FWCI: 74.2

Cites: 42

Cited by: 891

Related to: 7