Erica Field and Alessandra Voena explore the relationship between deeply entrenched gender norms and global economies. They discuss the sticky nature of informal societal rules, the double-edged sword of technology and remote work in shifting household dynamics, and how gender transitioned from a niche topic into a mainstream pillar of modern economic research.

Erica Field is a James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Economics at Duke University specializing in the fields of Development Economics, Health Economics and Economic Demography. Her work examines the microeconomics of household poverty and health in developing countries, with an emphasis on the study of gender and development. Her work has been published in several leading peer-reviewed journals, including the Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Political Economy and the American Economic Journal.

Alessandra Voena is Holbrook Working Professor of Price Theory at Stanford University. She is a labour and development economist whose research focuses primarily on the economics of the family and the economics of science and innovation. Her most recent work studies the economic consequences of the cultural norms around marriage on human capital investments in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.