The Legacy of the Missing Men: The Long-Run Impact of World War I on Female Labor Force Participation

Victor Gay ()

No 21-1173, TSE Working Papers from Toulouse School of Economics (TSE)

Abstract: This paper explores the pathways that underlie the diffusion of women's participation in the labor force across generations. I exploit a severe exogenous shock to the sex ratio, World War I in France, which generated a large inflow of women in the labor force after the war. I show that this shock to female labor transmitted to subsequent generations until today. Three mechanisms of intergenerational transmission account for this result: parental transmission, transmission through marriage, and transmission through local social interactions. Beyond behaviors, the war also permanently altered beliefs toward the role of women in the labor force.

Keywords: Female labor force participation; World War I; Sex ratio; Intergenerational transmission; Gender norms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J16 J22 N34 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-01-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gen, nep-gro, nep-his, nep-lab and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.tse-fr.eu/sites/default/files/TSE/docu ... 2021/wp_tse_1173.pdf Full Text (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Legacy of the Missing Men: The Long-Run Impact of World War I on Female Labor Force Participation (2021)
Working Paper: The Legacy of the Missing Men: The Long-Run Impact of World War I on Female Labor Force Participation (2017)
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:tse:wpaper:125087

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in TSE Working Papers from Toulouse School of Economics (TSE) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().