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Does female reservation affect long-term political outcomes ? Evidence from rural India

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  • Deininger, Klaus
  • Jin, Songqing
  • Nagarajan, Hari K.
  • Fang, Xia

Abstract

Although many studies have explored the impacts of political quotas for females, often with ambiguous results, the underlying mechanisms and long-term effects have received little attention. This paper uses nation-wide data from India spanning a 15-year period to explore how reservations affect leader qualifications, service delivery, political participation, local accountability, and individuals’ willingness to contribute to public goods. Although leader quality declines and impacts on service quality are often negative, gender quotas are shown to increase the level and quality of women's political participation, the ability to hold leaders to account, and the willingness to contribute to public goods. Key effects persist beyond the reserved period and impacts on females often materialize only with a lag.

Suggested Citation

  • Deininger, Klaus & Jin, Songqing & Nagarajan, Hari K. & Fang, Xia, 2011. "Does female reservation affect long-term political outcomes ? Evidence from rural India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5708, The World Bank.
  • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5708
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    Cited by:

    1. Adam Michael Auerbach & Adam Ziegfeld, 2016. "How Do Electoral Quotas Influence Political Competition? Evidence from Municipal, State, and National Elections in India," Working Papers 2016-16, The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy.
    2. Ghani, Ejaz & Kerr, William R. & O'Connell, Stephen D., 2014. "Political reservations and women's entrepreneurship in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 138-153.
    3. Sugat Chaturvedi & Sabyasachi Das & Kanika Mahajan, 2021. "The importance of being earnest: What explains the gender quota effect in politics?," Discussion Papers 21-02, Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi.
    4. Stephen D. O'Connell, 2020. "Can Quotas Increase the Supply of Candidates for Higher-Level Positions? Evidence from Local Government in India," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(1), pages 65-78, March.
    5. 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.
    6. Laura Huber, 2019. "When Civilians Are Attacked: Gender Equality and Terrorist Targeting," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 63(10), pages 2289-2318, November.
    7. 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.
    8. Pushkar Maitra & Ananta Neelim, 2024. "Discrimination in Developing Countries," Monash Economics Working Papers 2024-03, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    9. Bhalotra, Sonia R. & Clots-Figueras, Irma & Iyer, Lakshmi, 2013. "Path-Breakers: How Does Women's Political Participation Respond to Electoral Success?," IZA Discussion Papers 7771, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Rikhil R. Bhavnani, 2017. "Do the Effects of Temporary Ethnic Group Quotas Persist? Evidence from India," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 105-123, July.
    11. Yuvraj Pathak & Karen Macours, 2017. "Women’s Political Reservation, Early Childhood Development, and Learning in India," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 65(4), pages 741-766.
    12. Iyer, Lakshmi & Mani, Anandi, 2019. "The road not taken: Gender gaps along paths to political power," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 68-80.
    13. Francesco Burchi & Karan Singh, 2020. "Women’s Political Representation and Educational Attainments: A District-level Analysis in India," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 15(1), pages 7-33, April.
    14. Maitra, Pushkar & Rosenblum, Daniel, 2022. "Upstream effects of female political reservations," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    15. Deininger,Klaus W. & Jin,Songqing & Nagarajan,Hari Krishnan & Singh,Sudhir K., 2020. "Political Reservation and Female Labor Force Participation in Rural India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9350, The World Bank.
    16. Bargain, Olivier & Boutin, Delphine & Champeaux, Hugues, 2019. "Women's political participation and intrahousehold empowerment: Evidence from the Egyptian Arab Spring," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    17. Girard, Alexandra M., 2014. "Stepping into Formal Politics," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 1-18.
    18. Sally Sargeson & Tamara Jacka, 2018. "Improving Women's Substantive Representation in Community Government: Evidence from Chinese Villages," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 49(5), pages 1166-1194, September.
    19. Iyer, Lakshmi & Mani, Anandi, 2018. "The Road Not Taken: Gender Gaps along Paths to Political Power," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 368, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    20. repec:esx:essedp:740 is not listed on IDEAS

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    Keywords

    Housing&Human Habitats; Population Policies; Gender and Law; Gender and Health; Parliamentary Government;
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