Papa does preach: Daughters and polarization of attitudes toward abortion

Clémentine Van Effenterre

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2020, vol. 179, issue C, 188-201

Abstract: This article examines the hypothesis that having daughters polarizes male politicians’ attitudes toward abortion right. Using French and U.S voting records, I estimate that having daughters decreases support for abortion law by 25% for right-wing congressmen in France and has zero effect on left-wing members. It increases support among Democrats in the United States by 12%, while it has no effect on Republican congressmen. I find similar behavioral patterns for voters using electoral surveys, documenting that the results hold both for politicians and citizens. Robustness checks confirm that this result is not an artefact of endogenous fertility decisions. These findings are consistent with a formal model predicting that fathers with paternalistic preferences adopt a more polarized political position on abortion when they have a daughter rather than a son.

Keywords: Voting; Polarization; Gender; Political behavior; Attitudes; Abortion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 D83 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:179:y:2020:i:c:p:188-201

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2020.08.049

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