Working Papers
The distinctive traits of early settlers in the initial stages of institutional development may be crucial for cultural formation. In 1973, cultural geographer Wilbur Zelinsky postulated this in his doctrine of “first effective settlement.” I investigate this doctrine and identify its short and long-run implications for gender norms in the United States. Focusing on county creation events to capture counties at early stages of cultural and institutional development, I analyze early settlers’ gender norms using historical female labor force participation rates and financial rights at the settlers’ places of origin. I document the distinctive characteristics of early settlers’ populations and provide suggestive evidence supporting the transmission of gender norms across space and time. The results show that women’s labor supply is higher, both in the short and long run, in US counties that historically hosted larger foreign-born early settler populations from places with favorable gender attitudes. I provide evidence for four reinforcing mechanisms that explain this persistence: foundational influence during critical junctures, demographic dominance, intergenerational cultural transmission, and political dominance. These findings shed new light on the importance of the characteristics of immigrants and their places of origin for cultural formation in host societies.
Mention: Marginal Revolution
[CGO wp2023] [ECARES wp2022-02]
“Frontier History and Gender Norms in the United States” (with Samuel Bazzi, Abel Brodeur and Martin Fiszbein)
[nber wp31079] [cepr dp18069] [CESifo wp11598]
[Revised & Resubmitted: Journal of the European Economic Association (JEEA)]
This paper examines how historical gender roles, shaped by demographic and economic conditions, became entrenched as long-run norms. On the U.S. frontier, gender roles differed sharply from those in settled areas. Male-biased sex ratios increased women’s marriage rates but, because isolation limited outside options, did not translate into greater bargaining power within marriage. High fertility favored by land abundance, combined with limited access to markets, social infrastructure, and extended kin, further constrained women’s opportunities outside the home. Frontier women were less likely to report “gainful employment,” yet those who did were disproportionately concentrated in high-status occupations—reconciling narratives of both entrepreneurial independence and widespread domesticity. These distinctive gender roles left a durable imprint. Counties with greater historical frontier exposure exhibit lower female labor force participation through the 21st century. Time use data show that such women do not enjoy more leisure but instead perform more household work. The same areas display more conservative gender attitudes and weaker political participation by women. Although frontier history includes prominent examples of high-status women, the dominant experience of domesticity ultimately reinforced inegalitarian gender norms over the long run.
Mention: Marginal Revolution
“Collective Memory and National Identity Formation: The Role of Family and the State” (with Björn Brey and Lamis Kattan) [submitted]
State-led repression of minority identities is a well-documented phenomenon, yet its implications for national identity remain understudied. We examine how the Soviet state-induced famine (1932–33) shapes contemporary Ukrainian national identity through vertical (familial) and horizontal (community/state) transmission. Using newly geocoded individual-level data, we find that individuals from high-famine-exposure areas are more likely to identify as Ukrainian. We document that under Soviet rule, family networks preserved identity, while church closures weakened community transmission. After independence, state-led remembrance efforts, revitalized horizontal transmission. Our findings show how repression and remembrance shape identity persistence and reflect the famine’s lasting influence on Ukrainian-Russian relations.
[CESifo Working Paper No.12080] [RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series 112/25]
Publications
“Female-Specific Labor Regulation and Employment: Historical Evidence from the United States” (with Lamis Kattan)
[Accepted: Journal of Labor Economics (JOLE)]
By the end of the nineteenth century, labor legislation for women had become a prominent issue in the United States, with most states enacting at least one female-specific work regulation. We examine the impact of three previously unexplored legislation: seating, health and safety, and night-work regulations. Given that not all states adopted these laws, and the staggered na- ture of adoption, we rely on a difference-in-differences strategy design to estimate the effects on female gainful employment. Our findings indicate that laws regulating health and safety con- ditions and restricting women’s night work increased the likelihood of female employment by about 4% to 8%, accounting for about 10% to 20% from the total increase during our period of analysis. Examining heterogeneous effects reveals that younger and married women without children witnessed the largest increase in the likelihood of employment. We also document that native, higher-class and literate women were also incentivized to join the workforce. Women’s labor supply in the decades under consideration has been estimated to be quite inelastic with respect to own wage. Nevertheless, we find sizable labor force participation responses to the female-specific labor regulation we study. This indicates that the legislation must have shifted women’s labor supply curves, either because it made jobs more pleasant, or because it improved perceptions about how respectable it is for a woman to work in the labor market. Both chan- nels would reduce disutility from work, and increase labor supply at any given wage level. Our findings hold important implications for policymakers and advocates seeking to promote gender equality in the labor market.
Mention: CWEC/CFÉC Newsletter
[GLO DPs 1518] [CESifo wp11546]
Best Paper Award for Young Economists SITES-GLO 2024 conference
“Institutions, Attitudes and LGBT: Evidence from the Gold Rush” (with Abel Brodeur)
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, July 2021, Vol. 187, p. 92-110
This paper relates the size of the present-day LGBT population to the discovery of gold during the nineteenth century gold rushes. Comparing the surroundings of gold rush counties to other mining counties, we find that there are currently 15 percent more same-sex couples in former gold rush counties and that residents of these counties have more favorable attitudes toward homosexuality. Gold rush counties were initially isolated, mostly uninhabited and lacked strong formal institutions, which helped shaping pro-LGBT attitudes. Examining channels of persistence, we provide empirical evidence for selective migration and the lack of strong religious institutions.
Mention: Alice Evans Blog
“Determinants of Family Stress and Domestic Violence: Lessons from the COVID-19 Outbreak” (with Louis-Philippe Beland, Abel Brodeur and Derek Mikola)
Canadian Public Policy, September 2021, Vo. 47, No. 3, p. 439-459
We study the impacts of COVID-19 on domestic violence and family stress. Our empirical analysis relies on a unique survey conducted online, the Canadian Perspective Survey Series, which allows us to investigate the determinants of perceived levels of family stress and domestic violence during the first COVID-19 lockdown. We find no evidence that changes in work arrangements are related to perceived levels of family stress and violence in the home due to confinement. In contrast, we find that the inability to meet financial obligations and perceived concerns about maintaining social ties are significantly related to perceived concerns of family stress and domestic violence.
Work in Progress
“Inheritance Customs, the European Marriage Pattern, and Female Empowerment” (with Matthew Curtis, Paula Gobbi and Marc Goñi)
Funded by ERC Starting Grant 947654, IDED, granted to Paula Gobbi
Through high celibacy rates and late ages at first marriage, the European Marriage Pattern (EMP) limited fertility in Western Europe well before the Industrial Revolution. While the EMP is considered an early determinant of European development, few studies have examined the roots of this institution. In this paper, we show that inheritance customs shaped the EMP and allowed to sustain it over time. We construct a novel atlas of local inheritance customs for pre-industrial France and Belgium and examine individual-level marriage decisions from genealogical records for the 18th and 19th centuries. Our preliminary findings show that inheritance customs affected marriage patterns through two distinct channels: women's autonomy and eased economic constraints to form a household.
“Inheritance and Son Preference: Evidence from Pre-Industrial France” (with Lamis Kattan and Tommaso D'Amelio)
We examine whether granting daughters equal inheritance rights altered post-birth fertility behavior and son preference in pre-industrial France. Exploiting the 1793 inheritance reform as an exogenous institutional shock, we study gender-biased stopping behavior—whether families are less likely to stop childbearing after a girl, exhibit higher fertility when no sons are born, and stop earlier once a son is achieved. We complement fertility evidence with measures of post-birth discrimination, including excess female mortality and gender-differentiated human capital investments, proxied by literacy. Using a difference-in-differences design linking pre-revolutionary inheritance customs to Louis Henry microdata, we find no effect on sex ratios at birth but clear evidence of post-birth bias: stronger son-biased stopping, higher excess female mortality, and lower literacy among girls in treated areas. These effects are concentrated in rural and resource-constrained regions, consistent with a short-run backlash where legal equality raises the perceived cost of daughters while patriarchal norms adjust slowly.
“Men in Times of Crisis” (with Lamis Kattan and Taylor Wright)
Published Policy Papers
“A Political Economy Of The Tobacco Supply Chain in an Eastern Mediterranean Country: The Case of Lebanon” (with Ali Abboud, Ali Chalak and Mariam Radwan)
PLOS One, March 2025, 20(3), No. e0320050
The literature on tobacco has traditionally focused on health effects, public policies for tobacco control, and smoker profiles. However, there is a notable gap in understanding the supply chains and industry practices within the tobacco market. This paper addresses this gap by examining the structure of the tobacco market in Lebanon. Using an exploratory qualitative research approach, this paper maps the tobacco supply chain in Lebanon and investigates the interactions among various stakeholders, including key policymakers, regulators, researchers, and industry experts, as well as their underlying interests. Lebanon is a compelling case study due to its high smoking prevalence, the presence of a state-owned tobacco monopoly (the Regie Libanaise de Tabacs et Tombacs (Regie)), and the ongoing financial crisis that has affected various sectors, including the tobacco industry. The findings reveal three key issues: a complex political economy centered around monopolization and conflicting interests, the absence of a clear national strategy on tobacco leading to ineffective policy formulation, and inefficient tobacco cultivation practices requiring reforms for sustainable agricultural development. To address these issues, it is proposed to foster a more competitive and revenue-efficient tobacco market through the dissolution of the Regie monopoly via horizontal and vertical integration. This includes adopting an excise-specific tax on domestically manufactured tobacco goods and optimizing sales taxes on locally traded items. Secondly, expanding antitrust laws to encompass the tobacco industry and introducing legislative measures for fees and taxes are recommended to create an enabling environment for competition and revenue generation. Thirdly, reforming tobacco cultivation practices requires abolishing the current cultivation licensing framework, offering financial compensation to existing license holders, and supporting farmers in transitioning to alternative crops.
“Does Income Class Affect Life Satisfaction? New Evidence from Cross-Country Microdata” (with Jad Chaaban, Ali Chalak and Hala Ghattas)
MDPI, Social Sciences, June 2022, Vo. 11, No. 6, p. 262
This paper analyzes the impact of income class on subjective wellbeing. Using rich data from the Gallup World Poll, we investigate whether belonging to locally (both country- and time-specific) defined income classes influences individuals’ life satisfaction. We rely on a latent class analysis estimation method, using individual income proxied by household income divided by household size, as an observable characteristic to hypothesize the income classes. We fit a model with one categorical latent variable with three unobserved groupings, here: income classes, which we interpret as lower, middle and upper classes. Our estimates suggest that individuals in the low and middle income classes are, respectively, about 30 and 17 percent of a standard deviation less likely to report a higher life satisfaction in comparison to individuals belonging to the upper income class. The effect of income classes remains robust to the inclusion of standard explanatory variables in this literature.
“The Impact of Minimum Unit Pricing on Youth Alcohol Consumption: Insights from a Volumetric Choice Experiment in Lebanon” (with Jad Chaaban, Ali Chalak and Lilian Ghandour).
Health Policy & Planning, March 2022, czac021. doi: 10.1093/heapol/czac021
This paper analyses the impact of introducing an alcohol minimum unit pricing policy on youth’s off-premise alcohol consumption. We rely on price elasticities derived using stated preference alcohol purchase data from a survey of 1024 university students in Lebanon. Selectively targeting drinks with high ethanol concentration by applying a minimum unit pricing (MUP) corresponding to the maximum price that respondents are willing to pay per beverage achieves a reduction in ethanol intake close to 0.23 l/month (∼28% of pre-MUP ethanol intake). Imposing a flat MUP corresponding to the average price respondents are willing to pay for all alcoholic beverages decreases ethanol intake by nearly half the reduction from the previous targeted MUP. This work provides evidence in favour of MUP in conjunction with taxation capable of substantially reducing alcohol consumption. We also document a positive welfare benefit of MUP.
Policy research paper for UN Women Arab States on ``Assessing macroeconomic response policies to COVID-19 in the Arab region: what implications for women’s economic empowerment?”, lead author: Nisreen Salti, September 2021.
Background paper on ``Building Resilient Food Systems in the Arab Region” prepared in contribution to the 2020 edition of the ``Near East and North Africa Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition- Enhancing Resilience of Food Systems in the Arab States”, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), lead author: Ali Chalak, January 2021.
Report
Research associate United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)-- Arab Human Development Report 2021