Are female leaders good for education?: evidence from India Articles uri icon

authors

  • CLOTS FIGUERAS, IRMA

publication date

  • January 2012

start page

  • 212

end page

  • 244

issue

  • 1

volume

  • 4

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 1945-7782

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1945-7790

abstract

  • This paper shows that the gender of politicians affects the educational levels of individuals who grow up in the districts where these politicians are elected. A unique dataset collected on politicians in India is matched with individual data by cohort and district of residence. The political data allow the identification of close elections between women and men, which yield quasi-experimental election outcomes used to estimate the causal effect of the gender of politicians. Increasing female political representation increases the probability that an individual will attain primary education in urban areas, but not in rural areas, and not in the sample as a whole