The Law is the Last to Know: Evidence That De Facto Progress Drives De Jure Women's Rights

Joshua D. Ammons and Daniel J. D'Amico

Kyklos, 2026, vol. 79, issue 2, 452-477

Abstract: This paper examines how improvements in women's formal legal rights shape economic and social outcomes across countries. Using the Gender Disparity Index from the Economic Freedom of the World dataset, we analyze cases where countries experienced substantial increases in women's legal rights sustained for at least 5 years. Contrary to expectations, our findings show that such policy changes did not yield better economic and social outcomes. To explain these results, we demonstrate that the average annual gains in de facto property rights for women were greatest before these changes were codified into law. Formal legal advances follow, rather than drive, informal changes in women's social participation and economic roles. This study emphasizes the informal dependency of institutional change and its implications for economic development and social welfare.

Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/kykl.70040

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:kyklos:v:79:y:2026:i:2:p:452-477

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0023-5962

Access Statistics for this article

Kyklos is currently edited by Rene L. Frey

More articles in Kyklos from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().