Women, medieval commerce, and the education gender gap

We investigate the historical determinants of the education gender gap in
Italy in the late nineteenth century, immediately following the country’s
Unification. We use a comprehensive newly-assembled database
including 69 provinces over twenty-year sub-samples covering the 1861-
1901 period. We find robust evidence that female primary school
attainment, relative to that of males, is positively associated with the
medieval pattern of commerce, along the routes that connected Italian
cities among themselves and with the rest of the world. The effect of
medieval commerce is particularly strong at the non-compulsory upperprimary level and persists even after controlling for alternative long-term
determinants reflecting the geographic, economic, political, and cultural
differentiation of medieval Italy. The long-term influence of medieval
commerce quickly dissipates after national compulsory primary
schooling is imposed at Unification, suggesting that the channel of
transmission was the larger provision of education for girls in
commercial centers.