ABSTRACT
The notion that conflict between men and women plays a central role in the evolution of hierarchical social institutions has a long intellectual history. In the nineteenth century William Thompson, Friedrich Engels, and August Bebel, among others, insisted that collective male efforts to consolidate control over women helped explain the origin of the state. Gerda Lerner lent historical substance to this argument with her study of ancient Mesopotamian and Hebrew societies, The Origin of Patriarchy (1986). Yet institutional economists pay scant attention to gender conflict.1 They tend to focus on property rights relevant to the market or the state, rather than the family. They often accept the predominant economic assumption (formalized in a joint utility function) that mothers, fathers, and children share common preferences. And they seldom entertain the possibility that men and women have different collective identities and interests.
