Women and Power: Unpopular, Unwilling, or Held Back?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Casas-Arce, Pablo; Saiz, Albert
• 署名单位: Arizona State University; Arizona State University-Tempe; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-3808
• DOI: 10.1086/680686
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 641-669
• 关键词: LOW-INFORMATION ELECTIONS; UNITED-STATES; CANDIDATE GENDER; policy choices; OPEN-SEAT; DISCRIMINATION; performance; COMPETITION; Quotas; BIAS

摘要

We use Spain's Equality Law to test for the existence of agency problems between party leaders and their constituents. The law mandates a 40 percent female quota on electoral lists in towns with populations above 5,000. Using pre- and postquota data by party and municipality, we implement a triple-difference design. We find that female quotas resulted in slightly better electoral results for the parties that were most affected by the quota. Our evidence shows that party leaders were not maximizing electoral results prior to the quota, suggesting the existence of agency problems that hinder female representation in political institutions.