Brollo, Fernanda and Troiano, Ugo (2016) What happens when a woman wins an election? Evidence from close races in Brazil. Journal of Development Economics, 122 . pp. 28-45. doi:10.1016/j.jdeveco.2016.04.003

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Abstract

We analyze close elections between male and female mayoral candidates in Brazilian municipalities to provide novel evidence on the role of women as policymakers. Using an objective measure of corruption based on random government audits, we find that female mayors are less likely to engage in corruption compared to male mayors. We also find that female mayors hire fewer temporary public employees than male mayors during the electoral year and tend to attract less campaign contributions when running for reelection. Moreover, our results show that female mayors have a lower reelection probability than male mayors. We interpret our findings as suggesting that male incumbents are more likely to engage in strategic behavior and this improves their electoral performance. Other explanations receive less support from the data.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	F History United States, Canada, Latin America > F1201 Latin America (General) H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman J Political Science > JF Political institutions (General) J Political Science > JL Political institutions (America except United States)
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Economics
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Women politicians--Brazil, Women--Political activity--Brazil, Campaign funds--Brazil, Political corruption--Brazil, Patronage, Political--Brazil
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of Development Economics
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0304-3878
Official Date:	September 2016
Dates:	Date Event September 2016 Published 26 April 2016 Available 22 April 2016 Accepted 24 December 2016 Submitted
Date of first compliant deposit:	20 October 2016
Volume:	122
Page Range:	pp. 28-45
DOI:	10.1016/j.jdeveco.2016.04.003
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
Funder:	Spain. Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia , Italy. Ministero dell’ambiente e della tutela del territorio [Ministry of the Environment]
Grant number:	EJ 2007-62656 (Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia)

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