| Abstract: |
This paper probes the robustness and plausibility of the long-term impact of
traditional plough use on contemporary gender roles established by Alesina,
Giuliano and Nunn [Quarterly Journal of Economics (2013) Vol. 128, pp. 469 –
530]. It finds that the reduced-form women-plough relationship is robust to
testing a falsification hypothesis, using alternative proxies for gender
inequality, and accounting for selection bias from unobservables and spatial
dependence. Further evidence suggests that ancestral plough adoption affects
today’s gender inequality through shaping historically persistent
gender-biased norms reflected in oral traditions. Additionally, the culturally
embodied, intergenerationally transmitted impact of traditional plough use on
gender inequality is significantly lower among societies whose ancestors were
exposed to unstable climatic environments during the period 500 – 1900 CE. |