Working Paper: NBER ID: w15873
Authors: Dalton Conley; Emily Rauscher
Abstract: Washington (2008) finds that, controlling for total number of children, each additional daughter makes a member of Congress more likely to vote liberally and attributes this finding to socialization. However, daughters' influence could manifest differently for elite politicians and the general citizenry, thanks to the selection gradient particular to the political process. This study asks whether the proportion of female biological offspring affects political party identification. Using nationally-representative data from the General Social Survey, we find that female offspring induce more conservative political identification. We hypothesize that this results from the change in reproductive fitness strategy that daughters may evince.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: D19; H0
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| proportion of daughters (J12) | political partisanship (D72) |
| having daughters (J12) | identifying as a Republican (K16) |
| having daughters (J12) | identifying as a Democrat (J79) |
| total number of children (J13) | political partisanship (D72) |
| number of daughters (J12) | political partisanship (D72) |