The Law is the Last to Know: Evidence That De Facto Progress Drives De Jure Women's Rights
研究发现，女性法律权利的改善并未带来更好的经济和社会结果，因为事实上的产权进步在立法之前就已发生，法律变化只是跟随而非驱动社会参与和经济角色的改变。
ABSTRACT This paper examines how improvements in women's formal legal rights shape economic and social outcomes across countries. Using the Gender Disparity Index from the Economic Freedom of the World dataset, we analyze cases where countries experienced substantial increases in women's legal rights sustained for at least 5 years. Contrary to expectations, our findings show that such policy changes did not yield better economic and social outcomes. To explain these results, we demonstrate that the average annual gains in de facto property rights for women were greatest before these changes were codified into law. Formal legal advances follow, rather than drive, informal changes in women's social participation and economic roles. This study emphasizes the informal dependency of institutional change and its implications for economic development and social welfare.