When Women Win: Land Lotteries and Individual Prospects in Georgia

Abstract

We know that property rights and wealth are important for economic and individual prospects, but historically, women have been denied property rights and economic independence. How do women respond to significant changes in their economic fortunes, particularly in settings where they are disadvantaged? In the absence of state welfare systems, and to exploit new frontier lands, the state of Georgia used a centralized land lottery to expand its territory (creating the state we know today). We exploit the 1805 Georgia Land Lottery as a natural experiment to estimate the effect of wealth windfall on individual social and political outcomes. Importantly, we also focus on a never before studied population -- that of female land lottery applicants and winners, who were widows allowed to enter Georgia’s first land lottery. Using micro-level data on land lottery winners and losers, land plots, and petition outcomes from 1805-1820, we estimate the causal effect of wealth windfalls on individual prospects, such as longevity and remarriage, and if a windfall incentivizes winners to protect their new assets via political petitioning. We find no effects on social or political prospects such as life expectancy or remarriage for female winners. While a historical case, our results speak volumes about how wealth windfalls differentially affect men and women — wealth transfers designed to improve social and economic prospects mean little if women are not able to capitalize on the windfall.