An exploration of the cliometric relationship between gender equality and economic growth

Abstract

This paper develops the foundations and the implications of the mechanisms proposed as possible triggers for the demographic transition and the process of socio-economic development. In particular it examines the role played by gender equality and its significance for the understanding of the development process which allowed economies to move out of a long period of stagnation into a state of sustainable economic growth. Based on a renewed cliometric approach, the analysis suggests that the rise in gender equality was a key trigger for the transition to modern growth.