A new GLO Discussion Paper studies the role of the population sex ratio, the ratio of men to women, in global sodomy law reform in the post-WWII era. A high sex ratio makes sodomy law less likely to be repealed.

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GLO Discussion Paper No. 476, 2020

Sex Ratio and Global Sodomy Law Reform in the Post-WWII Era – Download PDF
by Chang, Simon

GLO Fellow Simon Chang

Author Abstract: This paper studies the role of population sex ratio, i.e. ratio of men to women, in the global wave of sodomy law reform in the post-WWII era. Using a global survey, this paper first finds that men are more homophobic than women and such pattern has persisted across countries and time. With a newly constructed panel data of 183 countries, this paper then finds that high sex ratio causally makes sodomy law less likely to be repealed. The result is robust to numerous checks, including using temperature as an instrumental variable for sex ratio.

GLO Discussion Papers are research and policy papers of the GLO Network which are widely circulated to encourage discussion. Provided in cooperation with EconStor, a service of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, GLO Discussion Papers are among others listed in RePEc (see IDEAS,  EconPapers). Complete list of all GLO DPs – downloadable for free.

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