Gender as an Institution: LGBT Identities and Economic Coordination

A person’s gender expression gives information to others around them about what to expect in interacting with them. In this sense, gender is an institution. It is a social tool for coordinating expectations. Previous treatments of this topic have emphasized the extremely minimal requirements necessary for unequal social arrangements to arise when gender is used as a coordinating device, and consequently have not left room for the analysis of LGBT+ individuals and their use of gender in coordinating their expectations and decisions. We examine multiple case studies in the history of LGBT+ identities around the world to build on previous research and demonstrate the utility to economists of examining gender as an institution. We conclude with some predictions about the future of gender.

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