Gender Quotas and the Crisis of the Mediocre Man: Theory and Evidence from Sweden

Abstract

Representative democracies are frequently said to need competent men and women to function effectively. However, this argument hinges on a range of premises, including how parties promote candidates and how voters value them. For example, party leaders may be reluctant to promote talent in their party if this threatens their own position. Such reluctance may create a vicious circle of mediocrity where low-quality leaders select low-quality followers in order to cement their position. Cozy arrangements between mediocre leaders and candidates can be shaken up in a variety of ways. One interesting possibility, that we study in this paper, is the introduction of quotas on the gender composition of candidates.More than 100 countries have introduced some form of gender quota in their electoral systems. The merits of these policies remain hotly debated in the academic

To the Victor Belongs the Spoils? Party Membership and Public Sector Employment in Brazil

“…To analyze whether the use of political discretion affects the quality of workers hired by the municipal bureaucracy, we study several characteristics of those workers hired from the private sector: education, private sector wage, and private sector wage residual, estimated from a Mincerian equation defined over a large set of individual characteristics, following the approach of Besley et al (2017). We take all these characteristics in the year before the workers join the municipal bureaucracy.…”

“…We also estimate the residuals from a Mincerian equation, defined over a large set of individual characteristics, to obtain a measure of personal ability, following the approach of Besley et al (2017). In particular, for every year, state, and gender we estimate separate regressions of (log) earnings on a set of dummy variables for age, education, race, and industry, including a full set of interactions among these variables.…”

Engendering the ‘Crisis of Democracy’: Institutions, Representation and Participation

“…It is also argued that gender quotas can improve the quality of male politicians. Besley et al (2013) examined the data on candidates in Swedish municipalities over seven elections and claim that the 'zipper quota' implemented by the Social Democratic Party actually increased the competence of male politicians. As a result of all these factors, Murray (2014) argues that gender quotas should be reframed; rather than being seen as applying only to women candidates, they should be seen as quotas for men in order to undermine men's dominance over the talent pool and reduce the suspicion and scrutiny that women politicians are subjected to.…”

So closed: Political selection in proportional systems

“…Political scientists have studied how the political representation of women and ethnic minorities varies under different voting rules (Norris, 2004), but even the valence of the elected politicians may depend on the rules of the electoral game. The recruitment of good politicians relies on candidates' decision to run for office (Caselli and Morelli, 2004) as well as on the selection of good candidates by political parties (Galasso and Nannicini, 2011)-and both choices are likely to depend on the electoral rule.…”

“…Little emphasis has so far been given to this specific electoral rule. Notable exceptions are the papers by Besley et al (2013) and Bagues and Esteve-Volart (2012), who analyze gender representation and the related effects on the quality of politicians in closed list proportional systems in Sweden and Spain, respectively. 3 As this electoral system is known to provide little political accountability and electoral control over the candidates, one may expect voters to be more prone to use rules of thumb when taking their decisions.…”