Engines of Liberation

Economie d'avant garde Research Report No. 2

46 Pages Posted: 1 Feb 2002

See all articles by Jeremy Greenwood

Jeremy Greenwood

University of Pennsylvania - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Ananth Seshadri

University of Wisconsin - Madison - Department of Economics

Mehmet Yorukoglu

University of Chicago - Department of Economics; University of Rochester

Date Written: October 2003

Abstract

Electricity was born at the dawn of the last century. Households were inundated with a flood of new consumer durable goods. What was the impact of this consumer durable goods revolution? It is argued here that the consumer goods revolution liberated women from the home. To analyze this hypothesis, a Beckerian model of household production is developed. Households must decide whether to adopt the new technologies or not, and whether a married woman should work. Can such a model explain the rise in married female labor-force participation that occurred in the last century? Yes.

Keywords: The second industrial revolution, technology adoption, household production theory, female labor-force participation.

JEL Classification: E1, J2, N1

Suggested Citation

Greenwood, Jeremy and Seshadri, Ananth and Yorukoglu, Mehmet, Engines of Liberation (October 2003). Economie d'avant garde Research Report No. 2, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=298479 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.298479

Jeremy Greenwood (Contact Author)

University of Pennsylvania - Department of Economics ( email )

Ronald O. Perelman Center for Political Science
133 South 36th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6297
United States
215-898-1505 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://jeremygreenwood.net

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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Cambridge, MA 02138
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Ananth Seshadri

University of Wisconsin - Madison - Department of Economics ( email )

1180 Observatory Drive
Madison, WI 53706
United States
608-262-6196 (Phone)
608-263-3876 (Fax)

Mehmet Yorukoglu

University of Chicago - Department of Economics ( email )

1126 East 59th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
United States
773-702-8254 (Phone)

University of Rochester

Rochester, NY 14627
United States

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