Progress 10/01/02 to 09/30/06
Outputs
This project has two main accomplishments. The first is theoretical and the second is empirical. Both aspects examine the demise of the legal institution of coverture. The doctrine of coverture restricted womens choices in virtually every aspect of their lives until the beginning of the 20th century. It has been gradually eliminated in almost all developed countries. However, it remains important and continues to apply as a de facto legal institution in many developing countries. Under this system, a married woman - a feme covert - could not make contracts, buy and sell property, sue or be sued, or draft wills. In the United States, between 1848 and 1920, a series of acts at the state level - married women's property acts and earnings acts - eliminated coverture in most states in the United States. This line of research seeks to understand the reasons for the demise of coverture, and the effects of its demise. Regarding theoretical contributions, family economics and
property rights economics was used to examine two polar legal institutions: coverture and self-ownership. Coverture was modeled in a principal-agent framework in which the husband owns the wife and owns the output of all household production. The man not only chooses his own allocation of time, but also directs the womans allocation of time. He is constrained in this endeavor by enforcement costs and by legal rules that require him to support his wife. The case in which a woman has the same rights as a man and is free to allocate her time across market and household activities was also examined, as was the case where she chooses her own level of human capital investment. In a marriage under self-ownership, the man and woman freely contract with each other and share the output of household production equally. For each of these cases the model yields an optimal allocation of time across household activity and market activity for both men and women. This model of legal change is unique
in combining family economics and property rights economics in this manner. The second main accomplishment is the empirical study of the effects of the demise of coverture. A comprehensive data set containing the dates of passage of state-level married womens property acts was utilized. Those dates were used to estimate the effect of enhanced property rights on outcomes related to women's human capital, including women's literacy and schooling rates, after controlling for a variety of factors. The dates of passage of the acts themselves may, however, be affected by the demand for laws giving women more control over their human capital. Indeed, previous research suggests that may be the case. This potential endogeneity problem was addressed using instrumental variables. Although other scholars have examined the effect of granting women property rights to inventions through patents, the effect of enhanced rights to property and earnings on their choices more generally has not been
examined.
Impacts
We expect that this research will affect how scholars in both law and economics think about the effects of coverture and related institutions. Although there is a general awareness that rights to real property and to earnings have important effects on the choices women make, there has been relatively little formal modeling or rigorous empirical study of those effects. To the extent that this work helps provide scholars with a framework for understanding those effects, it has the potential to make a significant impact on thought in law, economics, and history.
Publications
- Geddes, R. and Tennyson, S. 2007. The Effects of the Demise of Coverture, Cornell University, Policy Analysis and Management (working paper).
- Geddes, R. and Lueck, D. 2007. The Evolution of Married Womens Property Rights: An Economic Approach, Cornell University, Policy Analysis and Management (working paper).
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Progress 01/01/05 to 12/31/05
Outputs
I was on leave from the Department of Policy Analysis and Management at Cornell University from July 31, 2004 though August 1, 2005. Therefore, during 2005, I was able to work on this project from August 1, 2005 to December 31, 2005 only. During that time, I have been able to make progress on this project. The main area I have focused on during that time is on developing economic explanations for the systematic use of the legal regime know as coverture (or its equivalent in non-common law systems). This system granted almost all rights within the household to the husband, including rights to contract, to own and control property, and the right to sue and be sued. Numerous legal scholars have noted the ubiquity of this legal structure, but none have as yet brought economic principles to bear in explaining its ubiquity. I devoted my research time on this project to examining existing literature on this topic, such as Richard Chused's work on married women's property
law, Mary Ann Glendon's work on the transformation of family law, and Lundberg and Pollack's work on bargaining within marriage. I have also continued to gather data on legal regimes across countries and time. I have also begun to develop a theoretical model that will help explain the incentives created by these legal institutions.
Impacts
I expect that this research will affect how scholars in both law and economics think about the reasons for coverture and related institutions. Although there is a general awareness of the ubiquity of these institutions across countries and time, there is nevertheless limited understanding of the reasons for their evolution. To the extent that this work helps provide scholars with a framework for understanding that evolution, it has the potential to make a significant impact on thought in several disciplines.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 01/01/04 to 12/31/04
Outputs
Progress has been made on this topic in 2004. This project is data-intensive, and thus substantial time was devoted to data collection, entry, and checking. Data were collected from the census for the years 1850 to 1920 for womens labor force participation in a variety of industries, including manufacturing, agriculture, and services, as well as data on womens literacy and schooling. The goal is to observe the correlation between womens participation in various industries and the passage of acts giving women the right to own and control property in their own name, as well as to own their labor market earnings. The prediction is that the passage of such an act in a particular jurisdiction will increase womens labor force participation in various industries. Unfortunately, we were unable to find any statistical evidence that such an effect exists. However, there are several other avenues that will be explored, such as alternative specifications of the equation to be
estimated. Because the predicted relationship was not this project is still in the data collection stage, no published papers are available on the topic as yet.
Impacts
The anticipated impact of this research is substantial. The effects of changes in rights people hold on their economic behavior is poorly understood. No studies exist examining the effects of the passage of the married womens property acts and earnings acts on womens economic behavior. This study thus has the potential to make a substantial contribution to our understanding of the interaction of the property rights women hold (with respect to contracts, separate estates, and earnings in particular) with their economic choices. Understanding of that crucial link will influence the way property rights are viewed in enhancing womens status in the developing world, for example.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 01/01/03 to 12/31/03
Outputs
Substantial progress has been made on this topic during the 2003 year. This project is data-intensive, and thus substantial time has been devoted to data collection. Data have been collected, from the census, for the years 1850 to 1900 for womens labor force participation in manufacturing and agriculture. Once those data are fully entered and cleaned we will be able to discern the effects of the passage of the married womens property acts and the earnings acts on the shift in women s labor force participation across activities, which is novel. We anticipate a shift out of agriculture and into manufacturing, for example. We plan to expand the investigation of those changes into as many activities as the census data will allow, which will include participation in service activities, among others. Using those data, we will also be able to investigate the effects of the passage of those acts on womens literacy, schooling rates, and per capita wealth among other important
variables. Progress has also been made on the theoretical side of this research. A formal model of rights changes and their expected effects has been developed, and predictions have been generated. That model will be tested using the data described above. Additional international data have also been collected. Because this project is still in the data collection stage, no published papers are available on the topic as yet.
Impacts
The anticipated impact of this research is substantial. The effects of changes in rights people hold on their economic behavior is now poorly understood. No studies exist examining the effects of the passage of the married womens property acts and earnings acts on womens economic behavior. This study thus has the potential to make a substantial contribution to our understanding of the interaction of the property rights women hold (with respect to contracts, separate estates, and earnings in particular) with their economic choices. Understanding of that crucial link will influence the way property rights are viewed in enhancing womens status in the developing world, for example.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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