BACKGROUND Theories of fertility collapse in the post-socialist era imply a decline in the moral primacy of traditional social institutions. Yet gender inequality actually increased in many countries, and there is a scarcity of empirical evidence for the role played by traditional social institutions in reproductive decision-making. OBJECTIVE We investigate whether patriarchal institutions sust...

Cooperation occurs only in the shadow of conflict. Conflict lies at the heart of sexual reproduction.

We study the nature versus nurture distinction in bargaining behavior across gender, by observing the negotiation culture in matrilineal and patriarchal societies. Combining data from a laboratory experiment and a natural field experiment conducted in matrilineal and patriarchal societies permits us to explore how culture affects bargaining behavior. One interesting result is that in both the a...

Recent literature presents evidence that men are more competitively inclined than women. Since top-level careers usually require competitiveness, competitiveness differences provide an explanation for gender gaps in wages and differences in occupational choice. A natural question is whether women are born less competitive or whether they become so through the process of socialization. To pinpoi...

Many abused married Korean women have a strong desire to leave their abusive husbands but remain in the abusive situations because of the strong influence of their sociocultural context. The article discusses Korean women's responses to spousal abuse in the context of patriarchal, cultural, and social exchange theory. Age, education, and income as component elements share common effects on the ...