The Causal Effect of Economic Freedom on Female Employment & Education

Abstract

While we have decades of evidence that economically free economies grow faster and are more productive than un-free ones, we have less knowledge about the effect of economic freedom on groups that have traditionally been disadvantaged. I study the causal effects of large and sustained jumps in economic freedom on women’s labor force participation and primary school enrollment. I find that these jumps have a positive and significant effect in both cases--economic freedom is good for women’s labor force opportunities and female education.