Women's Liberation as a Financial Innovation
研究发现，19世纪美国各州废除已婚女性财产限制后，家庭资产从房地产转向金融资产，信贷供给增加，劳动力向非农业和资本密集型行业转移，推动了工业化。
ABSTRACT In one of the greatest extensions of property rights in human history, common law countries began giving rights to married women in the 1850s. Before this “women's liberation,” the doctrine of coverture strongly incentivized parents of daughters to hold real estate, rather than financial assets such as money, stocks, or bonds. We exploit the staggered nature of coverture's demise across U.S. states to show that women's rights led to shifts in household portfolios, a positive shock to the supply of credit, and a reallocation of labor toward nonagriculture and capital‐intensive industries. Investor protection thus deepened financial markets, aiding industrialization.