QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS WORKSHOP
Abstract: Gender quotas have been instrumental in addressing the political under-representation of women, and there is growing evidence that politician gender may significantly affect public policy. Yet the sources of these gender differences have not been examined from an electoral accountability perspective, nor has the role of having a quota system in place. Using novel data on constituent evaluations of municipal councilors in Mumbai, India—where reserved-seat gender quotas are assigned by lottery—we develop and estimate an accountability model in which male incumbents face probabilistic term limits. We find that female councilors significantly outperform their male counterparts, but reserved-seat quotas have countervailing selection and discipline effects. Due to tastebased discrimination by voters, counterfactual experiments reveal that gender quotas are indispensable to ensure women are not politically underrepresented. However, the latter can be achieved while improving voter welfare by mitigating the perverse incentives of term limits.
Sergio Montero is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and (by courtesy) Economics at the University of Rochester. Prof. Montero’s research straddles political economy, comparative politics, and political methodology. Broadly, he seeks to understand how strategic behavior by political elites shapes the performance and stability of democratic institutions. Methodologically, his work primarily relies on structural estimation, which blends formal theory and empirical analysis. His research has been published in leading political science and economics journals, including the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, and American Economic Review. He teaches courses on the political economy of public policy and quantitative research methods.
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This workshop is being cosponsored with the Leitner Political Economy Seminar.
The Quantitative Research Methods Workshop series is sponsored by the ISPS Center for the Study of American Politics and The Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale with support from the Edward J. and Dorothy Clarke Kempf Fund.