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Gender politics, environmental behaviours, and local territories: Evidence from Italian municipalities

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  • Chiara Lodi
  • Agnese Sacchi
  • Francesco Vidoli

Abstract

We investigated the impact of female politicians on waste collection in Italian municipalities in different territories observed over the years 2010-2019. We used a staggered difference-in-differences design to obtain a causal interpretation of the estimated effects. We find that the majority of women in the municipal council positively influence pro-environmental individual behaviour. The impact of a female-majority council is heterogeneous by region and more pronounced in areas with lower social capital. Female politicians as catalysts for positive change fade after 5-6 years, likely due to persistent social norms locally, thus stressing the need for additional cultural actions with long-lasting effects.

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  • Chiara Lodi & Agnese Sacchi & Francesco Vidoli, 2024. "Gender politics, environmental behaviours, and local territories: Evidence from Italian municipalities," Papers 2410.06091, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2410.06091
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