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Do Gender Quotas Influence Women’s Representation and Policies?

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  • Li-Ju Chen

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of applying gender quotas on policy decisions. I first examine the effect of gender quotas on the representation of female legislators, study the correlation between gender quotas and different types of government expenditures, and then use quotas as an instrument for the proportion of female legislators to investigate the effect of female legislators on policy outcomes. The results show that an increase in the share of female legislators by one percentage point increases the ratio of government expenditure on health and social welfare to GDP by 0.18 and 0.67 percentage points, respectively. The robustness check supports that the effect of quotas on female legislators is likely to be translated into the influence of female policymakers on social welfare.

Suggested Citation

  • Li-Ju Chen, 2010. "Do Gender Quotas Influence Women’s Representation and Policies?," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 7(1), pages 13-60, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:liu:liucej:v:7:y:2010:i:1:p:13-60
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    Cited by:

    1. Astghik Mavisakalyan, 2014. "Women in cabinet and public health spending: evidence across countries," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 281-304, August.
    2. Ozdamar, Oznur, 2017. "Gendered economic policy making: The case of public expenditures on family allowances," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 11, pages 1-28.
    3. De Paola, Maria & Scoppa, Vincenzo & Lombardo, Rosetta, 2010. "Can gender quotas break down negative stereotypes? Evidence from changes in electoral rules," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(5-6), pages 344-353, June.
    4. Alan Piper, 2019. "An Investigation into the Reported Closing of the Nicaraguan Gender Gap," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(3), pages 1391-1413, August.
    5. Moritz Linder, 2016. "Female Representation in Politics and the Effect of Quotas," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 13(4), 02.
    6. De Paola, Maria & Scoppa, Vincenzo & De Benedetto, Marco Alberto, 2014. "The impact of gender quotas on electoral participation: Evidence from Italian municipalities," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 141-157.
    7. Sosson Tadadjeu & Alim Belek & Henri Njangang & Marie-Laure Belomo & Brice Kamguia, 2021. "Does women's political empowerment promote public health expenditure in Africa?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 41(3), pages 1959-1969.
    8. Bhalotra, Sonia R. & Clarke, Damian & Gomes, Joseph & Venkataramani, Atheendar, 2018. "Maternal Mortality and Women's Political Participation," IZA Discussion Papers 11590, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Jekaterina Kuliomina, 2016. "Does Election of an Additional Female Councilor Increase Women's Candidacy in the Future?," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp559, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    10. Valentina Dimitrova-Grajzl & Iyabo Obasanjo, 2019. "Do parliamentary gender quotas decrease gender inequality? The case of African countries," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 149-176, June.
    11. Jekaterina Kuliomina, 2018. "Does Election of an Additional Female Councilor Increase Women's Candidacy in the Future?," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 15(1), pages 37-81, June.
    12. repec:ces:ifodic:v:13:y:2016:i:4:p:68-70 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Maria Teresa Balaguer-Coll & Mariya Ivanova-Toneva, 2019. "The impact women's leadership in local Governments: The case of Spain," Working Papers 2019/05, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    14. Kuliomina, Jekaterina, 2021. "Do personal characteristics of councilors affect municipal budget allocation?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    15. Bozzano, Monica, 2017. "On the historical roots of women's empowerment across Italian provinces: religion or family culture?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 24-46.
    16. Baliamoune-Lutz, Mina, 2013. "The Effectiveness of Foreign Aid to Women's Equality Organizations in the MENA : Does Aid Promote Women's Political Participation?," WIDER Working Paper Series 074, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    17. Bhalotra, Sonia R. & Clarke, Damian & Gomes, Joseph & Venkataramani, Atheendar, 2018. "Maternal Mortality and Women's Political Participation," IZA Discussion Papers 11590, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Gonzalo F. Forgues‐Puccio & Erven Lauw, 2021. "Gender inequality, corruption, and economic development," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(4), pages 2133-2156, November.
    19. Bhalotra, Sonia R. & Clarke, Damian & Gomes, Joseph & Venkataramani, Atheendar, 2018. "Maternal Mortality and Women's Political Participation," IZA Discussion Papers 11590, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Clayton,Amanda & Noveck,Jennifer Lynn & Levi,Margaret, 2015. "When elites meet : decentralization, power-sharing, and public goods provision in post-conflict Sierra Leone," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7335, The World Bank.
    21. repec:ces:ifodic:v:13:y:2016:i:4:p:19189891 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Li-Ju Chen, 2021. "Female policymakers and educational expenditures: cross-country evidence," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 129-155, February.
    23. Deniz Güvercin, 2020. "Women in Politics and Child Labor: an Instrumental Variable Approach," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(4), pages 873-888, September.
    24. Ximena Pena & Juan Camilo Cárdenas & Hugo Ñopo & Jorge Luis Castañeda, 2013. "Mujer y movilidad social," Documentos CEDE 10498, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    25. Moritz Linder, 2016. "Female Representation in Politics and the Effect of Quotas," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 13(04), pages 68-70, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    female legislator; gender quotas; policy outcomes;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D78 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Positive Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation
    • H50 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - General
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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