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Women, Medieval Commerce, and the Education Gender Gap

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  • Bertocchi, Graziella
  • BOZZANO, MONICA
Abstract
We investigate the historical determinants of the education gender gap in Italy in the late nineteenth century, immediately following the country?s Unification. We use a comprehensive newly-assembled database including 69 provinces over twenty-year sub-samples covering the 1861-1901 period. We find robust evidence that female primary school attainment, relative to that of males, is positively associated with the medieval pattern of commerce, along the routes that connected Italian cities among themselves and with the rest of the world. The effect of medieval commerce is particularly strong at the non-compulsory upper-primary level and persists even after controlling for alternative long-term determinants reflecting the geographic, economic, political, and cultural differentiation of medieval Italy. The long-term influence of medieval commerce quickly dissipates after national compulsory primary schooling is imposed at Unification, suggesting that the channel of transmission was the larger provision of education for girls in commercial centers.

Suggested Citation

  • Bertocchi, Graziella & BOZZANO, MONICA, 2013. "Women, Medieval Commerce, and the Education Gender Gap," CEPR Discussion Papers 9359, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:9359
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    4. Graziella Bertocchi & Monica Bozzano, 2016. "Origins and implications of family structure across Italian provinces in historical perspective," Department of Economics 0095, University of Modena and Reggio E., Faculty of Economics "Marco Biagi".
    5. Graziella Bertocchi & Monica Bozzano, 2019. "Origins and Implications of Family Structure Across Italian Provinces in Historical Perspective," Studies in Economic History, in: Claude Diebolt & Auke Rijpma & Sarah Carmichael & Selin Dilli & Charlotte Störmer (ed.), Cliometrics of the Family, chapter 0, pages 121-147, Springer.
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    7. Graziella Bertocchi & Monica Bozzano, 2015. "Family Structure and the Education Gender Gap: Evidence from Italian Provinces," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 61(1), pages 263-300.
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    9. Maria Kravtsova & Aleksey Oshchepkov & Christian Welzel, 2018. "The Shadow Of The Family: Historical Roots Of Social Capital In Europe," HSE Working papers WP BRP 82/SOC/2018, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    10. Harka, Elona & Nunziata, Luca & Rocco, Lorenzo, 2021. "The Alabaster Ceiling: The Gender Legacy of the Papal States," IZA Discussion Papers 14719, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
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    12. Youssouf Merouani & Faustine Perrin, 2022. "Gender and the long-run development process. A survey of the literature [Rethinking age heaping: A cautionary tale from nineteenth-century Italy]," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 26(4), pages 612-641.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Family types.; Education gender gap; Italian unification; Medieval commerce; Political institutions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E02 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - Institutions and the Macroeconomy
    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • N33 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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