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The Effects of Gender Quotas in Latin American National Elections

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  • Kotsadam, Andreas

    (Dept of Economics, University of Oslo)

  • Nerman, Måns

    (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University)

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of gender quotas in national elections on political participation, public policy, and corruption in Latin America. We are able to replicate the findings from previous research that women in politics do affect these outcomes, but only when we treat the number of women in parliament as exogenous. We argue, however, that the introduction of gender quotas caused an – in this context – exogenous increase in women’s representation, and while we find that quotas in Latin America increased the number of women in parliament, we find no substantial effects beyond mere representation. The mechanisms for these findings are scrutinized, and we find no indications that quota women are more marginalized than other elected women in Latin American parliaments. Hence, increasing women’s representation by means of gender quotas may not result in the same outcomes as an increased representation in non-quota elections.

Suggested Citation

  • Kotsadam, Andreas & Nerman, Måns, 2012. "The Effects of Gender Quotas in Latin American National Elections," Working Papers in Economics 528, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0528
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2077/28772
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. The Effects of Gender Quotas in Latin American National Elections
      by Maximo Rossi in Wikiprogress América Latina on 2012-03-05 23:46:00
    2. The Effects of Gender Quotas in Latin American National Elections
      by Maximo Rossi in Wikiprogress América Latina on 2012-03-12 18:38:00

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    Cited by:

    1. Anirban Mitra, 2018. "Mandated Political Representation and Redistribution," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 85(338), pages 266-280, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender quotas; Latin America; women in parliament;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • H50 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - General
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General

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