To explain these findings, the author of the study, Erica Field, hypothesized that acquiring formal title freed members of the household to spend more time outside the home, based on the intuition that in the absence of a formal title people had to stay home to protect their property from being seized by others. A further intuition suggested that adults had a comparative advantage over children in defending the home, so in the absence of secure property rights children were more likely to be sent out to work. Once the property was secured with a formal title, children could stay home and adults could take over children’s jobs outside the household (Field 2003, 7–8, 12).

Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, loc. 1927