Women Legislators and Economic Performance

Thushyanthan Baskaran, Sonia Bhalotra, Brian Min and Yogesh Uppal
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Brian Min: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) from University of Warwick, Department of Economics

Abstract: There has been a phenomenal global increase in the proportion of women in politics in the last two decades, but there is no evidence of how this influences economic performance. We investigate this using data on competitive elections to India’s state assemblies, leveraging close elections to isolate causal effects. We find significantly higher growth in economic activity in constituencies that elect women and no evidence of negative spillovers to neighbouring male-led constituencies, consistent with net growth. Probing mechanisms, we find evidence consistent with women legislators being more efficacious, less corrupt and less vulnerable to political opportunism.

Keywords: Political representation; identity; India; gender; women legislators; economic growth; luminosity; corruption; roads; close elections; electoral incentives JEL Classification: D72; D78; H44; H73 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-cwa, nep-dev, nep-gen and nep-pol
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/w ... _1354_-_bhalotra.pdf

Related works:
Journal Article: Women legislators and economic performance (2024)
Working Paper: Women Legislators and Economic Performance (2021)
Working Paper: Women Legislators and Economic Performance (2021)
Working Paper: Women Legislators and Economic Performance (2018)
Working Paper: Women legislators and economic performance (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wrk:warwec:1354

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