"Jan Luiten van Zanden, Tine De Moor, and Sarah Carmichael argue that over centuries a "European Marriage Pattern" developed, characterized by high numbers of singles among men and women, high marriage ages among men and women, and neolocality, where thecouple formed a new nuclear household and did not coreside with the parents. This distinctive pattern emerged due to the influence of the Catholic Church's teachings of marriage based on consensus, the rise of labor markets, and specific institutions concerning property transfers between generations that enhanced wage labor by women. Over time an unprecedented demographic regime was created and embedded in a highly commercial environment in which households interacted frequently with labor, capital and commodity markets. This was one of the main causes of the gradual move away from a Malthusian state towards an economy able to generate long-term economic growth"- This book demonstrates that women have been and key to understanding processes of development and explores the importance of greater gender equality for financial markets, religious institutions and human capital formation.