What happens when a woman wins an election? Evidence from close races in Brazil

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Brollo, Fernanda; Troiano, Ugo
• 署名单位: University of Warwick; University of Michigan System; University of Michigan; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2016.04.003
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 28-45
• 关键词: gender; POLITICS; CORRUPTION; patronage; Campaign Contributions

摘要

We analyze close elections between male and female mayoral candidates in Brazilian municipalities to provide novel evidence on the role of women as policymakers. Using an objective measure of corruption based on random government audits, we find that female mayors are less likely to engage in corruption compared to male mayors. We also find that female mayors hire fewer temporary public employees than male mayors during the electoral year and tend to attract less campaign contributions when running for reelection. Moreover, our results show that female mayors have a lower reelection probability than male mayors. We interpret our findings as suggesting that male incumbents are more likely to engage in strategic behavior and this improves their electoral performance. Other explanations receive less support from the data. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.