The Gains from Self-Ownership and the Expansion of Women’s Rights
Author(s)
Geddes, Rick; Lueck, Dean
Abstract
A property-rights analysis is used to explain the demise of coverture in the US. The modern property-rights structure to human beings is characterized as a system in which all adults are self-owners. Coverture, in contrast to self-ownership, is characterized as a principal-agent system in which the man legally owned his wife and her flow of value. It is argued that economic growth with attendant increases in wealth and specialized markets leads to greater gains from human-capital investment, thus making coverture a relatively costly institution. The cumulative weight of evidence suggest that women’s rights tended to evolve in accordance with the predictions of the research. 1. historical exemptions from coverture and private contracting out of coverture are consistent with the model. 2. econometric analysis of state laws shows that increases in wealth and the growth of cities is associated with the expansion of women’s rights.
