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...

Conventional wisdom suggests that in developed countries income and fertility are negatively correlated. We present new evidence that between 2001 and 2009 the cross-sectional relationship between fertility and women's education in the U.S. is U-shaped. At the same time, average hours worked...

We investigate the relationship of CEOs' political preferences (as reflected in their political contributions) with the prevalence and compensation of women in leadership positions at U.S. public companies. We find that CEOs who favor the Democratic Party (“Democratic CEOs”) are associated...