Associate Professor of Economics Ann Owen and Rongling You '04 published "Growth, attitudes towards women, and women's welfare," in the February issue of Review of Development Economics. Using a large cross-section of countries, this research provides evidence that as per capita income rises within a country, attitudes towards women become more progressive. This paper also demonstrates the importance of progressive attitudes towards women in generating growth and shows the existence of a gender-equity poverty trap when people do not devote enough resources to educating women.

This research was started as part of You's senior honors thesis. Since graduating from Hamilton in 2004, You worked at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and is currently pursuing her MBA at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business.