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Women's Political Power and Environmental Outcomes

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  • Georgios Voucharas
  • Dimitrios Xefteris

Abstract

Environmental deterioration is believed to affect women more than men. Thus, in the context of democratic decision-making, an increase in the political power of women should lead to better environmental outcomes. In this paper, we test this intuition by estimating how suffrage rights affected countries' emissions using data for the period 1850-2014. By employing a) a difference-in-difference empirical strategy a la Miller (2008) and b) a calibrated regression discontinuity design that focuses on the few years before and after the suffrage reform, we provide -for the first time- robust evidence suggesting that environmental outcomes strongly depend on the extent of women's political participation.

Suggested Citation

  • Georgios Voucharas & Dimitrios Xefteris, 2018. "Women's Political Power and Environmental Outcomes," University of Cyprus Working Papers in Economics 07-2018, University of Cyprus Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucy:cypeua:07-2018
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    File URL: https://papers.econ.ucy.ac.cy/RePEc/papers/07-18.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    6. Farzin, Y. Hossein & Bond, Craig A., 2006. "Democracy and environmental quality," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 213-235, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. de Bromhead, Alan & Fernihough, Alan & Hargaden, Enda, 2020. "Representation of the People: Franchise Extension and the “Sinn Féin Election” in Ireland, 1918," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 80(3), pages 886-925, September.

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    Keywords

    women's suffrage; emissions; voting rights; political economy; environmental outcomes.;
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