Table of Contents

List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
1. The broader picture: the global determinants of female agency and economic growth 2. The patterns behind change: origins and features of the European Marriage Pattern
3. Effects on human capital formation
4. Effect on capital market development
5. The effect on the labour market: women's wages, human capital formation and fertility
6. The 'dark side' of the EMP? Testing the nuclear hardship hypothesis
7. The institutional effect: alternatives for family ties, the role of trust and the emergence of the commercial household
8. Beguines: living single and safe
9. Conclusion: the EMP in Eurasian Perspective
References
Index

About the Author

Jan Luiten van Zanden is professor of Global Economic History at Utrecht University. His research interests focus on the reconstruction and explanation of long-term trajectories in the world economy with the goal of understanding the deep roots of contemporary societal problems. Tine De Moor is professor of Institutions for Collective Action in historical perspective at Utrecht University. She is closely engaged with translating insights from the study of collectively managed institutions in the past to help organisations working in the present. Sarah Carmichael is an Assistant Professor in the economic and social history group of Utrecht University. Her research focuses on devising historical measures of gender inequality and exploring how family organization impacts upon the position of women.

Reviews

"Women matter! Capital Women is a strong and compelling book. It will be of the upmost interest for all those who wish to understand the ongoing debate about the historical role played by women in economic growth, progress, and development in Western Europe." --Claude Diebolt, CNRS Research Professor of Economics at the University of Strasbourg
"Development economists have long argued that if free to act for themselves and their families, women can contribute to growth and development; indeed the need to empower women has become a staple of development policy. Capital Women will help economic historians get up to date in understanding how women's agency can be seen as crucial to the development of Western Europe. Jan Luiten van Zanden, Tine De Moor, and Sarah Carmichael use a wide range of
measures of economic activity, including their original "Girlpower-Index", to measure female agency and autonomy and then link these to the dynamics of development. Capital Women brings "Girlpower" into the
economic historians' mainstream." --Jane Humphries, Centennial Professor, London School of Economics and Emeritus Professor of Economic History, Oxford University
"This book addresses from new angles the old debate on the origins, the characteristics and the consequences of the European Marriage Pattern. It makes a very substantial and timely contribution to our knowledge of preindustrial societies - and it will surely inspire research and solicit debate for years to come." --Guido Alfani, Bocconi University