Women's Political Role and Poverty in the Educational Dimension. A District-Level Analysis in India

Abstract

Die deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar.The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available at http://dnb. (1) to analyse whether the gender of elected politicians is relevant to the educational achievements of residents of the Indian districts in which they were elected;(2) to test whether politicians are more sensitive to the needs of people of the same gender;(3) to explore the possible channels through which these relationships operate.By applying instrumental variable regressions to a data set obtained by merging individual data with district-level political variables, we concluded that a 10% increase in women's political representation at district level may produce a 5.9% increase in the probability of children completing primary school. In a further analysis, we found a striking difference in the results when broken down by gender: women's political agency affects the education of a significantly larger number of girls than boys. Finally, none of the channels we examined relating to school buildings and the coverage of the Mid-Day Meal scheme helped explain the above relationship. This is due in part to poor-quality data. In conclusion, these findings provide further evidence of the benefits of women's political representation and should be taken into consideration in the current debate on the Women's Reservation Bill in India.

Do Educated Leaders Affect Economic Development? Evidence from India

“…For instance, while Baskaran et al (2021) find that election of female MLAs results in higher economic growth, Prakash et al (2019) show that electing criminally accused MLAs hampers economic growth measured by night-time lights. Multiple studies establish the role of MLAs for a host of development outcomes (Asher and Novosad, 2017;Bhalotra et al, , 2018Baskaran et al, 2021;Burchi, 2013;Clots-Figueras, 2011, 2012Ejaz Ghani et al, 2013;Halim et al, 2016;Iyer et al, 2012;O'Connell, 2018;Pande, 2003). While gender, caste, religion, and criminality of leaders has been extensively studied, the effect of educational qualification of leaders has not been adequately explored in the Indian context.…”

Is economic development affected by the leaders' education levels? Evidence from India

“…For instance, while Baskaran et al (2021) find that election of female MLAs results in higher economic growth, Prakash et al (2019) show that electing criminally accused MLAs hampers economic growth measured by night-time lights. Multiple studies establish the role of MLAs for a host of development outcomes (Asher and Novosad 2017;Bhalotra et al , 2018Baskaran et al 2021;Burchi 2013;Clots-Figueras 2011, 2012Ejaz Ghani et al 2013;Halim et al 2016;Iyer et al 2012;O'Connell 2018;Pande 2003). While gender, caste, religion, and criminality of leaders have been extensively studied, the effect of educational qualification of leaders has not been adequately explored in the Indian context.…”