War-Driven Permanent Emigration, Sex Ratios, and Female Labor Force Participation

• Authors: Ana Rute Cardoso and Louis-Philippe Morin
• Journal of Human Resources, Vol. 61, No. 2, 487-523, March 2026

We investigate the drivers of female labor force participation in the presence of unbalanced sex ratios due to a scarcity of males. To do so, we exploit exogenous variation in sex ratios across cohorts and regions, using instruments based on massive emigration in the 1960s that was fueled by the Portuguese Colonial War. As the sex ratio declined, female labor force participation increased, while the marriage rate was unaffected. Female representation among top occupations increased, and the gender pay gap declined, consistent with the predominance of a demand shock favoring female labor.