Title: Women and Asylums

Speaker: Melanie Meng Xue, Assistant Professor, London School of Economics 

Host: Dr. Camila Saez Müller, Assistant Professor of Economics, Duke Kunshan University

Date: Friday, May 19, 2023 

Time: 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM

Zoom ID: 4645866216 Passcode: DKUECON

Abstract: The 19th c. England saw a massive growth in mental asylums. Both the number of asylums and the number of patients held in asylums increased exponentially. I start by showing the characteristics of asylum patients using full-count British population censuses. Using register and linked census data, I document the circumstances of asylum patients following the committal. Consistent with the widespread impression, asylum patients were more likely to be female. I then show substantial variation in the share of female patients across the regions. To understand the cause of the gender disparities in asylum patients, I examine the cause of admission in over 140,000 cases and find evidence that gendered cultural norms and beliefs were crucial in committing a patient to asylum. Finally, using a natural experiment — the Married Women’s Property Act 1882 — I show that increased control over financial means alleviated the incidence of mental distress for women.

Bio: Melanie Meng Xue is an Assistant Professor of Economic History at the London School of Economics (LSE). Shereceived a Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University in 2015.  Her research examines the rise of women, the self-perpetuation of authoritarian regimes, and the origin and evolution of antisocial behavior. Her work has been published in Quarterly Journal of Economics and Explorations in Economic history.