Early View
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Foreign education, gender legal rights, and economic freedom

Christina Peters

Christina Peters

Department of Economics, Metropolitan State University of Denver, Denver, Colorado, USA

Search for more papers by this author
Maria Tackett

Maria Tackett

Department of Economics, Gonzaga University, School of Business Administration, Spokane, Washington, USA

Search for more papers by this author
Alexandre Padilla

Corresponding Author

Alexandre Padilla

Department of Economics, Metropolitan State University of Denver, Denver, Colorado, USA

Correspondence

Alexandre Padilla, Department of Economics, Metropolitan State University of Denver, Campus Box 77, P.O. Box 173362, Denver, CO 80217-3362, USA.

Email: [email protected]

Search for more papers by this author
First published: 04 June 2025

Abstract

Economic freedom is linked with better economic and human development outcomes. However, benefits are not evenly spread, with notable gaps in legal systems and property rights, impacting gender equality in economic freedom. Addressing the distribution of economic freedom could enhance development. This study examines foreign education's role in reducing gender disparities in economic freedom. It finds that foreign-educated individuals influence reforms in their home countries based on gender rights experienced abroad. The extent of their influence depends on the destination country's gender disparity levels and their progress over time.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

Data used for this study are available at https://doi.org/10.3886/E227221V1 (Padilla, 2025).

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.