Isadora Frankenthal | HP X CHIBE Hybrid Research Seminar

Female Labor Productivity Reduces Domestic Violence – Evidence from Peru

with Isadora Frankenthal | PhD Candidate, MIT

HYBRID SEMINAR

In Person: 1104 Blockley Hall, 423 Guardian Drive | Virtual: Attendees may attend via Zoom (https://upenn.zoom.us/j/95353951407)

Abstract: This study investigates the impact of female employment and earnings on domestic violence in Peru. I construct exogenous shifters of gender-specific labor productivity by exploiting gender-specific comparative advantage in the production of major export crops, along with time variation in international crop prices and cross-sectional variation in crop composition across districts. Female labor productivity reduces domestic violence, including severe physical violence and female homicide, and this effect is not driven by changes in total household income. I find little evidence of changes in women’s bargaining power within the household or beliefs about the role and treatment of women, and argue instead that results are driven by increases in women’s economic and social independence. The effects are stronger in districts with higher baseline levels of domestic violence, in contrast to theories of “male backlash” that predict female status improvements could lead to increases in domestic violence in places where women are traditionally more subordinate. 

Link to Paper: https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:2d0e3dff-2987-38f4-b873-1e1a0bb5e0b4.

Isadora is an Economics PhD candidate at MIT interested in development and political economy, especially questions related to the economic importance of culture and the economic causes and consequences of crime. Prior to joining MIT, Isadora was a visiting scholar at Penn working with Dr. Heather Schofield on projects at the intersection of health, development, and behavioral economics.​