Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP18290
Authors: Philipp Ager; Marc Goi; Kjell G Salvanes
Abstract: This paper studies how gender-biased technological change in agriculture affected women's work in 20th-century Norway. After WWII, dairy farms began widely adopting milking machines to replace the hand milking of cows, a task typically performed by young women. We show that the adoption of milking machines pushed young rural women out of farming in dairy-intensive municipalities. The displaced women moved to cities where they acquired more education and found better-paid employment. Our results suggest that the adoption of milking machines broke up allocative inefficiencies across sectors, which improved the economic status of women relative to men.
Keywords: gender; technological change; agriculture; milking machines; structural transformation
JEL Codes: J16; J24; J43; J61; N34; O14; O33
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Adoption of milking machines (Q16) | Displacement of young women from agriculture (J43) |
| Displacement of young women from agriculture (J43) | Migration to urban areas (R23) |
| Migration to urban areas (R23) | Improved educational attainment and income outcomes (I24) |
| Adoption of milking machines (Q16) | Migration to urban areas (R23) |
| Displacement of young women from agriculture (J43) | Improved educational attainment and income outcomes (I24) |
| Children of displaced women (J12) | Higher educational attainment and income ranks as adults (I24) |