From Stagnation to Sustained Growth: The Role of Female Empowerment

American Economic Review · 2013 · Volume 103 · Issue 3

Abstract

This paper explores the role of gender equality over a long-run economic and demographic development path of industrialized countries. Our unified cliometric growth model of female empowerment suggests that changes in gender relations are a key ingredient of economic development. The economy evolves from a Malthusian regime--with slow technological progress, low income and low fertility--to a Modern Growth regime, with high living standards and low fertility. The rise in technological progress, together with improvements in gender equality, generates a positive feedback loop that engages the process of human capital accumulation (economic transition) and triggers the demographic transition.

Keywords

Macroeconomics: Production, Business Fluctuations, Cycles, Fertility, Family Planning, Child Care, Children, Youth, Economics of Gender, Non-labor Discrimination, Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: General, International, or Comparative

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