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Gender Differences in Cooperative Environments? Evidence from The U.S. Congress

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  • Stefano Gagliarducci
  • M Daniele Paserman

Abstract

This paper uses data on bill co-sponsorship in the U.S. House of Representatives to estimate gender differences in cooperative behaviour. We find that among Democrats there is no significant gender gap in the number of co-sponsors recruited, but women-sponsored bills tend to have fewer co-sponsors from the opposite party. On the other hand, we find robust evidence that Republican women recruit more co-sponsors and attract more bipartisan support on the bills that they sponsor. We interpret these results as evidence that cooperation is mostly driven by a commonality of interest, rather than gender per se.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefano Gagliarducci & M Daniele Paserman, 2022. "Gender Differences in Cooperative Environments? Evidence from The U.S. Congress," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(641), pages 218-257.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:econjl:v:132:y:2022:i:641:p:218-257.
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    Cited by:

    1. Carozzi, Felipe & Gago, Andrés, 2023. "Who promotes gender-sensitive policies?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 371-405.
    2. Gagliarducci, Stefano & Paserman, M. Daniele & Patacchini, Eleonora, 2019. "Hurricanes, Climate Change Policies and Electoral Accountability," IZA Discussion Papers 12334, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Andreoli, Francesco & Manzoni, Elena & Margotti, Margherita, 2022. "Women at work: Gender quotas, municipal elections and local spending," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    4. Neal, Zachary & Domagalski, Rachel & Yan, Xiaoqin, 2020. "Party Control as a Context for Homophily in Collaborations among US House Representatives, 1981 -- 2015," OSF Preprints qwdxs, Center for Open Science.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D70 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - General
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • H50 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - General
    • M50 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - General

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