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Gender and public goods provision in Tamil Nadu's village governments

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  • Gajwani, Kiran
  • Zhang, Xiaobo

Abstract

Using data from 144 village-level governments in India's Tamil Nadu state, this paper investigates political reservations for women and whether the gender of village government leaders influences the provision of village public goods. A knowledge test of village government presidents and a survey about the interaction between village presidents and higher-level officials reveal that female village government presidents have much lower knowledge of the village government system than do their male counterparts and have significantly less contact with higher-level government officials. Although male and female presidents provide similar amounts of some public goods, there is strong evidence that village governments led by a woman built fewer schools and roads—two public goods that require relatively more contact and coordination with higher-level officials.

Suggested Citation

  • Gajwani, Kiran & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2014. "Gender and public goods provision in Tamil Nadu's village governments," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6854, The World Bank.
  • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6854
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Faguet, Jean-Paul, 2004. "Does decentralization increase government responsiveness to local needs?: Evidence from Bolivia," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(3-4), pages 867-893, March.
    2. Indira Rajaraman & Manish Gupta, 2012. "Public expenditure choices and gender quotas," Indian Growth and Development Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 5(2), pages 108-130, September.
    3. Zhang, Xiaobo & Fan, Shenggen & Zhang, Linxiu & Huang, Jikun, 2004. "Local governance and public goods provision in rural China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(12), pages 2857-2871, December.
    4. Raghabendra Chattopadhyay & Esther Duflo, 2004. "Women as Policy Makers: Evidence from a Randomized Policy Experiment in India," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 72(5), pages 1409-1443, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sugat Chaturvedi & Sabyasachi Das & Kanika Mahajan, 2021. "The importance of being earnest: What explains the gender quota effect in politics?," Discussion Papers 21-02, Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi.
    2. Ruyssen, Ilse & Salomone, Sara, 2018. "Female migration: A way out of discrimination?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 224-241.
    3. Das, Sabyasachi & Mukhopadhyay, Abhiroop & Saroy, Rajas, 2023. "Does affirmative action in politics hinder performance? Evidence from India," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 370-405.
    4. Das, Sabyasachi & Mukhopadhyay, Abhiroop & Saroy, Rajas, 2017. "Efficiency Consequences of Affirmative Action in Politics: Evidence from India," IZA Discussion Papers 11093, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Anderson, Siwan & Francois, Patrick, 2023. "Reservations and the politics of fear," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Population Policies; Gender and Health; Agricultural Knowledge and Information Systems; Gender and Law; Rural Development Knowledge&Information Systems;
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