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Women Inventors: The Legacy of Medieval Guilds

Author

Listed:
  • Sabrina Di Addario
  • Michela Giorcelli
  • Agata Maida

Abstract

The share of female inventors remains significantly lower than that of men in both developed and developing countries. This paper studies gender bias in patenting activity, using a unique dataset that matches Italian administrative employer-employee records both to patent data from the European Patent Office (1987-2005) and to municipality-level information on medieval guilds from the Italian Central Archive of State. We empirically verify whether women's low propensity to patent can be explained by the historical local conception of women's role in society, which we measure with the share of women in guild founders from the Middle Ages. The results indicate that the presence of women in Medieval guilds is associated with a higher probability of observing a female inventor and a higher number of yearly patent submissions by women.

Suggested Citation

  • Sabrina Di Addario & Michela Giorcelli & Agata Maida, 2024. "Women Inventors: The Legacy of Medieval Guilds," Development Working Papers 500, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    • Handle: RePEc:csl:devewp:500
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    patents; women; inventors; guilds;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J60 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - General

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