Culturally tight societies tend to have fewer innovations. Could asymmetric cultural policing help explain women's lower share of patents and leadership? Xin Qin et al 2023: https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/advance-article/doi/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad238/7227277 Link to all papers: https://draliceevans.substack.com/p/does-patriarchal-policing-suppress

A wealth of evidence from the US, Eastern Europe and Latin America suggests that when voters are concerned about corruption, they favour female outsiders. Graphs and links to articles can be found at https://draliceevans.substack.com/p/corruption-and-votes-for-women

The new “Barbie” film portrays the rise and fall of patriarchy. I have assessed its empirical accuracy. If you’ve watched it and want to reflect on real world parallels, you might enjoy my review. But if you just want to enjoy it or are yet to see it, PLEASE DO NOT LISTEN.

Right-wing parties have surged to power in Italy and Greece. Spaniards vote tomorrow, it may be for a right-wing government. What explains this trend? Economic stagnation has exacerbated frustrations, especially around masculinity. Men can no longer provide for their families single-handedly. Right-wing leaders have gained popularity by celebrating motherhood, vilifying feminists and scape-goating migrants. Substack link: https://draliceevans.substack.com/publish/post/135352414

Everyone knows that Muslim societies are more likely to be authoritarian and marred in civil war. The typical Muslim society is twice as likely to experience a civil war with 1000 battle deaths a year. The big question is why? Islamic culture, Islamic law, the ulema-state alliance and oil have all been suggested. But they are inadequate. They fail to explain Muslim countries’ heterogeneity. Why are some Muslim countries (like Indonesia) actually democratic? Why are some Muslim dictatorships so durable, while others (like Somalia) have erupted in civil war? Faisal Ahmed presents a new theory: “Conquest and Rents”. Of all the books I’ve read in 2023, this is one of the most original, insightful, and important. It radically improved my understanding of our world.

‘Good jobs’ for high school graduates have dwindled. ​Manufacturing and other manual-intensive occupations that on average paid substantially higher salaries than services have disappeared. This has undercut men’s ability to provide, bruised their egos, fostered patriarchal nostalgia, and catalysed votes for the far right. This podcast explains how we got here and who is affected. For graphs and links, please see my substack: https://draliceevans.substack.com/p/structural-transformation-and-patriarchal?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2

Did you know that Arab tribes in the 8th-7th century BCE were mostly led by women? While this is not evidence of wider matriarchy, it certainly rocks my priors. Arab women were once revered as leaders. How do we know? Assyrian royal inscriptions refer to nine “Queens of the Arabs”. The images referenced are in my substack: https://draliceevans.substack.com/p/arab-matriarchy?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2 This podcast draws on research by Ellie Bennet which you can read here: https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/328402

Assyria was the world’s first empire. Powerful kings marshalled professional armies, conquered vast territory (from Anatolia to the Persian Gulf), presided over a complex bureaucracy, deported thousands of workers, and accumulated harems of concubines. In the previous millennium, its capital (Ashur) was actually a bit more egalitarian, with checks on executive dominance. What changed and why? In this podcast, I discuss Eckhart Frahm’s fascinating new book (Assyria) alongside globally-comparative new research on imperial expansion and authoritarianism.

When women rise up to positions of power, they are often attacked. Gianmarco Daniele, Gemma Dipoppa, and Massimo Pulejo have a tremendous paper analysing (online and offline) attacks on Italian mayors. Marginally elected women are 3 times more likely to be attacked. The question is why? Full paper: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4508878

The Economic & Cultural Causes of Conflict by Dr Alice Evans