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Women and Budget Deficits

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Abstract
If women have different economic preferences than men, then female economic and political empowerment is likely to change policy and household decisions, and in turn macroeconomic outcomes. We test the hypothesis that female enfranchisement leads to lower government budget deficits due gender differences in preferences over fiscal outcomes. Estimating the impact of women's vote on budget deficits in a differences-in-differences regression for Swiss cantonal panel data, we find that including women in the electorate reduces average per capita budget deficits by a statistically significant amount.

Suggested Citation

  • Signe Krogstrup & Sébastien Wälti, 2007. "Women and Budget Deficits," IHEID Working Papers 13-2007, Economics Section, The Graduate Institute of International Studies, revised Apr 2007.
    • Handle: RePEc:gii:giihei:heiwp13-2007
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    Cited by:

    1. Bertocchi, Graziella, 2011. "The enfranchisement of women and the welfare state," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 535-553, May.
    2. Ole Henning Nyhus & Bjarne Strøm, 2023. "Young Voters and Budget Deficits," CESifo Working Paper Series 10388, CESifo.
    3. José Javier Bercoff & Osvaldo Meloni, 2023. "Looking inside the ballot box: gender gaps in Argentine presidential elections," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 70(2), pages 237-255, June.
    4. Signe Krogstrup & Sébastien Wälti, 2008. "Do fiscal rules cause budgetary outcomes?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 136(1), pages 123-138, July.
    5. Janneke Plantenga, 2015. "The Economics of Gender Equality – A Review of the Literature in Three Propositions and Two Questions. WWWforEurope Working Paper No. 104," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 58262, March.
    6. Kuliomina, Jekaterina, 2021. "Do personal characteristics of councilors affect municipal budget allocation?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    7. Roberto Cabaleiro‐Casal & Enrique Buch‐Gómez, 2021. "Female politicians in municipal councils and fiscal performance," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 289-314, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Budget deficits; Economics-of-gender; enfranchisement; fiscal policy; women; time preference; altruism;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making
    • E6 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook
    • H6 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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