Research

Dissertation

Simon, A. (2025). Unraveling the Threads: Social Norms, Human Capital, and Inequality in Developing Economies. Hannover: Institutionelles Repositorium der Leibniz Universität Hannover. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15488/20078. (PDF). 

Summary/ key takeaways:

In the dissertation, I use policy changes as natural experiments to study how shifts in social norms shape gender and ethnic inequalities in health, education, and labor outcomes across low- and middle-income countries. I address the following questions: 

How do social norms interact with each other? How are they linked to inequality in human capital? Under which conditions may norm-targeting policies succeed or backfire? 

🔞 Marriage and chastity norms — Ethiopia’s child marriage ban increased the prevalence of the most severe form of female genital cutting, reflecting an increased need to signal chastity as later marriage expanded opportunities for premarital relationships - particularly among ethnic groups where bride price is practiced [Chapter 2]. The same ban raised girls’ school attendance and narrowed the gender gap in educational investments, but only in those groups, where families have greater financial incentives to invest in daughters’ education. In contrast, in groups where bride price payments aren’t customary, the ban led to higher rates of girls’ child labor [Chapter 3 - with Arndt Reichert, Alina Sowa, Christoph Strupat].

➗ Kinship and inheritance norms — a law requiring parents to leave more than 50% of their estate to their biological children in Ghana, thereby restricting matrilineal kinship norms that traditionally allocate inheritance within the extended family, widened the adult gender gap in labor (more male hours worked) and reduced girls’ child labor [Chapter 4  - with Arndt Reichert, Alina Sowa, Christoph Strupat].

🚬 Masculinity and health behavior norms — fathers starting to smoke in Indonesia is associated with larger ethnic majority–minority gaps in early child development [Chapter 5  - with Arndt Reichert]. 

Working papers & work in progress:

Reichert, A., Simon, A. (2025). Ethnic majority-minority disparities: Differential effects of exposure to secondhand smoke on child development. Hannover Economic Papers (Link).

Reichert, A., Simon, A., Sowa, A., Strupat, C. (2025). The human capital effects of an early marriage reform among girls and boys: The role of cultural norm.

Simon, A. (2025). Bride price, chastity signals, and cultural shifts: The interplay of an early marriage reform and female genital cutting in Ethiopia.

Reichert, A., Simon, A., Sowa, A., Strupat, C. (2025). Matrilineal Kinship Norms and Gender Differences in Adult and Child Labor. Hannover Economic Papers (Link).

Funded projects (2023-2025):

Gender inequality, child labor, and schooling: Evidence on policies to mitigate the impact of economic shocks. Funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).
PIs: Prof. Dr. Arndt Reichert (Leibniz University Hannover), Dr. Christoph Strupat (IDOS).