It is recognized that affirmative action, as anti-discriminatory policies whose aim is to benefit an underrepresented group, is a key driver of progress for women. How-ever, the role of migrants in helping female voice from abroad has not been addressed yet. This paper empirically investigates the effect of international migration on the parliamentary participation of women left behind following the brand new strand of literature on ‘transfers of norms’. Panel data from 1960 to 2000 allows us to take into account selection due to women’s eligibility, observed and unobserved hetero-geneity. After having controlled for traditional political and non political factors, total international migration to countries with higher female political empowerment significantly increases the female parliamentary shares in sending countries.

Investigating gender differences in preferences is crucial to understand gender inequalities and their dynamics. We propose a cultural transmission model in which parents may socialise their sons and daughters differently and we derive gender specific dynamics of preferences. We show how interactions between socialisation behaviours and household’s economic decisions shape these dynamics and the long-run gender gap in preferences. We apply our theory to the relative disutility associated with market work vs. housework. Initial and temporary differences in home production technologies can translate into irreversible differences in terms of gender inequalities as such inequalities are magnified by culture.

The gaps between male and female outcomes and opportunities are present in several different dimensions and many countries, especially in developing ones. These gaps are likely to result in lower aggregate productivity because of an ine cient use of women potential. In this paper we examine the quantitative e ects of gender gaps in entrepreneurship and labor force participation on aggregate income. To do the analysis, we rst present a simple theoretical framework illustrating the negative impact of gender gaps on resource allocation and aggregate labor productivity. We then calibrate and simulate the model to study the quantitative e ects of gender inequality. We show that gender gaps in entrepreneurship have important e ects on aggregate productivity and labor force gender gaps on income per capita. Speci cally, our model predicts that if all women are excluded from entrepreneurship, average output per worker drops by more than 10 % and wages fall by even more, while if all women are excluded from the labor force, income per capita falls by almost 40%. Our cross-country analysis shows that gender gaps and income losses are quite similar across income groups but di er importantly across geographical regions, with a total income loss of 27 % in Middle East and North Africa, a 23 % loss in South Asia, and a loss of around 15 % in the rest of the world. JEL classi cation numbers: E2, O40.