Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/216417 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 13105
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
A large literature documents persistent impacts of formal historical institutions. However, very little is known about how these institutions interact with ancestral traditions to determine long-term economic and social outcomes. This paper addresses this question by studying the persistent effect of legal origins on female economic empowerment in sub-Saharan Africa, and how ancestral cultural norms of gender roles may attenuate or exacerbate this effect. Taking advantage of the arbitrary division of ancestral ethnic homelands across countries with different legal origins, we directly compare women among the same ethnic group living in civil law countries and common law countries. We find that, on average, women in common law countries are signicantly more educated, are more likely to work in the professional sector, and are less likely to marry at young age. However, these effects are either absent or significantly lower in settings where ancestral cultural norms do not promote women's rights and empowerment. In particular, we find little effect in bride price societies, patrilocal societies, and societies where women were not involved in agriculture in the past. Our findings imply that to be optimal, the design of formal institutions should account for ancestral traditions.
Subjects: 
legal origins
ancestral norms
women's empowerment
gender roles
JEL: 
D03
I25
J16
N37
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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