Women's Rights and Economic Development: A Theoretical Framework

妇女权利与经济发展：一个理论框架经济发展的一个关键规律是妇女的经济和政治权利的逐步扩大。历史上，妇女在所有国家几乎没有政治和经济权利。在英国和美国等西方国家，妇女的权利在19世纪中期首次得到扩大。今天，大多数工业化国家的妇女已获得与男子同样的权利。相比之下，在许多发展中国家，妇女的权利仍然缺乏。如何解释经济发展与妇女权利之间的联系？该项目从经济角度审查发展与妇女权利之间的联系。特别是，该项目采用了政治经济方法，并确定了推动扩大妇女权利的政治利益。一个关键的观察是，在联合王国和美国，许多最重要的改革早在妇女获得投票权之前就开始实行了。换句话说，改革是由只对男性选民负责的全男性立法机构通过的，因此，妇女权利的最初扩大相当于男性自愿放弃权力。这表明，男子开始把提高妇女的权利视为符合他们自己的利益。该项目建立了一个能够解释妇女权利在发展过程中内生扩张的政治-经济模型。该理论侧重于男性与女性分享权力的动机，并认为经济环境的变化导致了一种情况，即男性和女性都能从平等的权利分配中获益。特别是，该理论表明，人力资本需求的增加可以引发妇女权利的扩大。反过来，妇女权利的扩大又进一步加速了人力资本的积累。因此，经济发展与妇女权利之间的联系是双向的。其根本机制是，赋予妇女更多权力会导致对儿童教育的投资增加。随着对人力资本需求的增加和技能回报的提高，男性和女性都越来越希望自己的后代接受高水平的教育。因此，男性更愿意与女性分享权力。这项研究的更广泛影响源于它对发展政策的影响。一些研究指出，缺乏妇女权利是成功的经济发展的一个重要障碍。鉴于从外部强加给一个国家性别平等通常是不可行的，因此，要制定成功的发展政策，就必须确定在哪些条件下政治控制者会认为改善妇女的法律地位是有利的。作为该项目的一部分进行的关于妇女权利的政治经济的工作可以确定将促进和促进两性平等的条件。例如，理论框架表明，补充家庭内部教育的公共措施（如儿童公共卫生方案和高质量小学，特别是为女孩开设的小学）可以增加对妇女权利的支持。研究还表明，婚姻市场制度可能在妇女权利的政治经济学中发挥关键作用。

Women's Rights and Economic Development: A Theoretical FrameworkSBE-SES 0820409 DoepkeOne of the key regularities of economic development is the gradual expansion of the economic and political rights of women. Historically, women had few political and economic rights in all countries. In Western countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States women's rights were first expanded in the mid-19th century. Today, women in most industrialized countries have acquired the same rights as men. In contrast, women's rights are still lacking in many developing countries. What explains the connection between economic development and women's rights?The project examines the link between development and women's rights from an economic perspective. In particular, the project takes a political-economy approach and identifies the political interests that drive expansions of women's rights. A key observation is that in the United Kingdom and the United States, many of the most significant reforms were introduced long before women obtained the right to vote. In other words, the reforms were passed by all-male legislatures that were responsible only to male voters, so that the initial expansion of women's rights amounted to a voluntary ceding of power on the part of men. This suggests that men came to regard improving the rights of women as being in their own interest.The project develops a political-economy model which can account for the endogenous expansion of women's rights in the course of development. The theory focuses on men's incentives for sharing power with women and suggests that changes in the economic environment led to a situation where both men and women stood to gain from an equalized distribution of rights. In particular, the theory demonstrates that an increase in the demand for human capital can trigger the expansion of women's rights. In turn, the expansion of women's rights further accelerates the accumulation of human capital. The link between economic development and women's rights therefore runs both ways. The underlying mechanism is that granting more power to women leads to increased investments in the education of children. As the demand for human capital increases and the return to skill goes up, men and women alike increasingly desire a high level of education for their descendants. Men therefore come to prefer to share power with women.The broader impact of the research derives from its implications for development policy. A number of studies have identified a lack of women's rights as an important hindrance for successful economic development. Given that it is generally infeasible to impose gender equality on a country from the outside, for successful development policy it is essential to identify conditions under which those in political control will find it advantageous to improve the legal position of women. The work on the political economy of women's rights carried out as part of the project can identify conditions that will facilitate and promote gender equality. For example, the theoretical framework suggests that public measures that are complementary to education within the family (such as public health programs for children and high-quality elementary schools in particular for girls) could increase the support for women's rights. The research also suggests that marriage-market institutions may play a key role in the political economy of women's rights.