Women, medieval commerce, and the education gender gap

We investigate the determinants of the education gender gap in Italy in the late 19th century. * Female primary school enrollment, relative to that of males, is positively associated with medieval commerce. * We control for alternative long-term geographic, economic, political, and cultural factors. * We discuss mechanisms for long term persistence. We investigate the historical determinants of the education gender gap in Italy in the late 19th century, immediately following the country's Unification. We use a comprehensive newly-assembled database including 69 provinces over 20-year sub-sampl... Mehr ...