Women's Rights and Economic Development: A Theoretical Framework

妇女权利与经济发展：一个理论框架SBE-SES 0820409号文件经济发展的主要规律之一是妇女的经济和政治权利逐步扩大。从历史上看，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，妇女权利最早是在19世纪中期扩大的。今天，在大多数工业化国家，妇女已经获得了与男子相同的权利。相比之下，许多发展中国家仍然缺乏妇女权利。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了发展与妇女权利之间的联系。特别是，该项目采取了政治经济学的方法，确定了推动扩大妇女权利的政治利益。一个关键的观察是，在英国和美国，许多最重要的改革早在妇女获得选举权之前就已经推出了。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，因此最初扩大妇女权利相当于自愿放弃男性的权力。这表明，男性开始将改善妇女权利视为符合他们自己的利益。该项目开发了一种政治-经济模式，可以解释妇女权利在发展过程中的内生扩大。该理论侧重于男性与女性分享权力的动机，并表明经济环境的变化导致了一种男女都能从平等的权利分配中获益的情况。特别是，该理论表明，对人力资本需求的增加可以触发妇女权利的扩大。反过来，妇女权利的扩大进一步加速了人力资本的积累。因此，经济发展和妇女权利之间的联系是双向的。其基本机制是，赋予妇女更多权力会增加对儿童教育的投资。随着对人力资本需求的增加和技能回报的增加，男性和女性都越来越希望他们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来自其对发展政策的影响。一些研究表明，缺乏妇女权利是成功发展经济的一个重要障碍。鉴于从外部将性别平等强加给一个国家通常是不可行的，为了成功的发展政策，至关重要的是确定在哪些条件下政治控制者会发现有利于提高妇女的法律地位。作为该项目的一部分开展的关于妇女权利的政治经济学的工作可以确定便利和促进两性平等的条件。例如，理论框架表明，与家庭教育相辅相成的公共措施(如儿童公共卫生方案和高质量的小学，特别是女孩的公共卫生方案)可以增加对妇女权利的支持。这项研究还表明，婚姻市场机构可能在妇女权利的政治经济中发挥关键作用。

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.