Conference Agenda
Please note that all times are shown in the time zone of the conference. The current conference time is: 15th Sept 2026, 08:43:55am CEST
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Daily Overview |
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HF 03: Norms, Rights, and Technology in Household Finance Location: LR M1.2 (Floor 1) Session Chair: Arna Olafsson, Copenhagen Business School | |
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ID: 133
Property Rights and Financial Access New York University, United States of America This paper investigates the effect of property rights on financial inclusion and subsequent changes in labor market participation and human capital investment. Using hand-collected savings bank data linked to the English census, I exploit the 1870 Married Women's Property Act, which granted married women ownership of their financial assets. A 10% increase in the population of married women is associated with a 1% rise in accounts and a 1.2% rise in deposit receipts after the reform, indicating greater financial inclusion. In districts with a savings bank, following the reform, female employment increases by ∼3 pp for married women and ∼6 pp for single women, with no change for men. The occupational structure shifts, with married women moving toward low-entry-cost work and single women moving into higher-skill roles that require greater human capital. Girls' school attendance rises by 9-12%, with no change for boys. These patterns align with an appropriability channel in which greater control over earnings raises the private return to work and skill investment, with savings banks making property rights operative by providing secure, interest-bearing deposits. I develop a theoretical framework emphasizing this complementarity between reduced expropriation risk and enforceable, remunerated savings. These results demonstrate an important role of property rights in encouraging financial participation, and the complementarity of property rights and financial access in employment and education outcomes.
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