It's Raining Men! Hallelujah?

Abstract

We document the implications of missing women in the short and long run. We exploit a natural historical experiment, which sent large numbers of male convicts and far fewer female convicts to Australia in the 18th and 19th century. In more male-biased areas, women historically married more and were less likely to work. Today, in areas that were more male-biased historically, people have more conservative attitudes towards women working, women are less likely to have high-ranking occupations, and women earn a lower wage income. We document the role of vertical cultural transmission and of marriage homogamy in sustaining cultural persistence.

Keywords: Culture, gender roles, sex ratio, natural experiment, Australia

JEL Classification: I31, N37, J16, Z33