March 31, 2026
Stone Center Postdoctoral Scholar Naomi Crowther is an economist whose research focuses on the effects of forced displacement, the applicability of economic theory in post-conflict settings, and questions related to gendered wealth inequality. She and her coauthor, Louisa Roos of Trinity College Dublin, are the authors of a paper, “Shaping Women’s Fortunes: Inheritance and Gender Disparities,” that was recently added to the Stone Center Working Paper Series.
Before joining the Stone Center, Crowther worked for the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, and received a Ph.D. in economics from Trinity College Dublin. She spoke to the Stone Center about her working paper, her ongoing projects, and why she decided to earn a doctoral degree after working in research for international institutions.
What led you to research the effect of inheritance on the gender wealth gap?
Crowther: The gender income gap is relatively well-researched. We wanted to think more about the gender wealth gap. Inheritance can be one of the largest lump sums of money a woman will receive in her life. Women rely on intra- and inter-generational transfers for wealth accumulation more than men do, in part due to the gender pay gap. And so we wanted to explore the dynamics at play: Were women and men receiving similar inheritances? Were they investing money received from inheritances similarly? Does inheritance reduce the gender wealth gap? And if so, are the effects sustained over time?
We used Swedish registry data from 2002 through 2004, combined with panel data on individual wealth portfolios and labor income from 1999 through 2007, to investigate these questions. The wealth register in Sweden records information on the allocation of wealth within households, an uncommon occurrence in most countries and an essential requirement for this type of gender disaggregated research.
We found that men and women were inheriting similar amounts of money on average, with the caveat that men were more likely to receive the family businesses. That’s a significant productive asset that women aren’t inheriting. Second, women tend to put their money in lower-yield investments, while men put their money in higher-return asset classes. Although inheritance reduces the gender wealth gap in the short run, the effect dissipates within three to four years.
Why is there such a difference in investment decisions? Are men more attracted to riskier, higher-yield investments? Do women have less access to those investments?
Crowther: I would argue that it may be rational for women to put their money into easy-access investment structures if they are more likely than men to drop out of the labor market after a negative shock, such as a parent dying (to take on eldercare) or a child getting sick (to take on childcare). Indeed, our findings indicate that women are more likely to reduce their labor supply after the death of a parent. We find that daughters do this more so than sons. Notably, if a woman has sisters, her labor supply declines less. Having brothers provides no such attenuation effect.
In order to explore whether women have a preference for lower risk investments — as opposed to simply facing a different optimization constraint — we looked at a subsample of women who have high levels of pre-existing wealth. We find that given similar high levels of wealth, women choose similarly high-return investments as their brothers. This indicates that women do not prefer to invest in lower-yield investments but may be facing distinct constraints. In that sense, our findings reject the notion that women don’t know what they’re doing.
In the paper, you explain that you decided to focus on Sweden because according to Swedish law, spouses own property separately; wealth registries, therefore, reveal the allocation of wealth within a household. How do the results of your paper apply beyond Sweden?
Crowther: Sweden has a relatively low rate of homeownership compared to other European countries. So the amounts that people are inheriting are relatively low. If we were to conduct this study in the U.K. or the U.S., I think we’d find much larger wealth gaps, because people are inheriting homes — which for many people is the most valuable asset they will ever own.
In the U.K, for example, say a sister and a brother inherit a home. Because of the pay gap, women tend to have less money. And what is likely to happen is that the brother will buy the sister’s share of the home. She gets the money, and then the money gets used or it might go into a bank account. Most savings accounts do not track inflation, so in this scenario eventually her inheritance will lose value. Whereas the man has been able to keep the home, which is likely to hold its value, and accrue over time, amongst other valuable attributes of the asset.
I think the results of our study can be generalized to wealthy countries that have a strong welfare state and healthcare system. If you were to undertake this study in other countries that have greater inheritance of property, and a less functional welfare state — such as the U.S., for example — you may find our results to be lower bound estimates, and that inheritance perpetuates far greater inequalities.
How did you first become interested in issues related to inequality?
Crowther: I grew up in France and studied economics in high school, and I found it really interesting to learn about people’s motivations. I was always quite aware of inequality and differing access to opportunities. After I studied economics at university and got a master’s degree in public and economic policy, I moved to Colombia for a position with the Grameen Foundation.
My primary role was to write a report on the poverty outreach of microfinance organizations and institutions in Latin America — basically, to figure out whether institutions that said they were giving money to the poorest were actually doing so. While I was there, I joined other projects, one of which was working with woman-headed coffee farmers. After meeting many of these women, it became apparent that often they were household heads because the men in their household had been killed in the armed conflict. This lay the seed for my research agenda at the nexus of post-conflict land and gender equity.
Before going to graduate school for my Ph.D., I moved to D.C. and worked at the World Bank. There, I worked on a randomized controlled trial for a cognitive behavioral therapy intervention designed to help young men at risk of entering gangs in Honduras. Later I moved to the opposite side of the White House, to the Inter-American Development Bank, where I worked on projects in Haiti and Uruguay. The one in Haiti related to keeping private schools accountable to parents for the quality of education being provided. As part of that project I travelled across Haiti training enumerators, meeting with school directors, and setting up the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) framework, as well as designing the intervention content.
After all of that experience working for policy organizations — and out in the field — why did you decide to go back to earn a second master’s in economics for development, and then a Ph.D.?
Crowther: In the projects I’d worked on, I was dealing with people’s lives — vulnerable people’s lives. I felt it incumbent upon me to be properly trained, so that I could do justice to the importance of the work.
Also, in the course of doing research for these organizations, I realized that there was a ceiling, and it seemed that only if you had a Ph.D. would you stand a chance at pushing through it.
A lot of your work has brought you to places that are experiencing civil upheaval and violence related to inequality. Do you feel drawn to working on high-stakes issues?
Crowther: Part of it is that I care a lot about giving a voice to vulnerable people, and people who are disempowered by current societal structures. So much injustice ripples out from unequal power dynamics.
Many people with power will fight to keep it, and that tends to degenerate into violence and crime. I think the crux of what interests me is unequal power dynamics and finding ways to rectify those dynamics.
How do you plan to use the rest of your time at the Stone Center?
Crowther: Unfortunately, conflict induced displacements are on the rise, and more than ever policy-makers need empirical evidence that highlights the needs of minorities and other traditionally underrepresented groups involved in this forced migration. I am extending my land restitution research in Colombia, and undertaking new projects which explore the reintegration of demobilized fighters and IDPs in other countries which have suffered civil conflict.
I am also finishing a project with my co-author Professor Cheryl Doss and some colleagues at the World Bank, in which we explore the measurement of gender wealth gaps in Malawi. We find that even when you ask a husband and wife about the value of the same dwelling they both report owning, men systematically report higher values than women on average. This, in the context of the rest of the paper’s findings, have implications for policy-makers and inequality researchers alike.
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