Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP16605
Authors: Sonia Bhalotra; Thushyanthan Baskaran; Yogesh Uppal
Abstract: There has been a phenomenal global increase in the proportion of women in politicsin the last two decades, but there is no evidence of how this influences economic perfor-mance. We investigate this using data on competitive elections to India's state assemblies,leveraging close elections to isolate causal effects. We find significantly higher growth ineconomic activity in constituencies that elect women and no evidence of negative spilloversto neighbouring male-led constituencies, consistent with net growth. Probing mechanisms,we  find evidence consistent with women legislators being more efficacious, less corrupt andless vulnerable to political opportunism.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: D72; D78; H44; H73
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Women legislators (J16) | Higher growth in economic activity (O49) |
| Women legislators (J16) | Higher annual luminosity growth (O49) |
| Women legislators (J16) | Raise nonfarm employment share (J49) |
| Women legislators (J16) | More effective in completing infrastructure projects (H54) |
| Women legislators (J16) | Less corrupt (H57) |
| Higher growth in economic activity (O49) | Superior economic performance (P17) |
| More effective in completing infrastructure projects (H54) | Superior economic performance (P17) |
| Less corrupt (H57) | Superior economic performance (P17) |
| Women legislators (J16) | No negative spillovers to neighboring male-led constituencies (J79) |