Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization· 2026Q1
When women take all: Direct election and female leadership
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- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Introducing direct mayoral elections in Italian municipalities increased the share of female mayors by a substantial amount, particularly in cities with existing female representation and by replacing less educated incumbents with high-quality female officials.
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Key points
- Direct election regimes substantially increased the fraction of female mayors in Italian municipalities.
- The positive effect was stronger in cities with a higher pre-reform share of female politicians.
- The reform led to high-quality female officials replacing undereducated incumbents.
- Direct elections ease the selection of competent politicians into office.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
This paper investigates how direct election regimes (à la presidential democracy) affect the selection of women into political offices compared to indirect appointment (à la parliamentary). Exploiting the staggered phase-in across Italian municipalities of a reform to the local institutional regime, I find that the introduction of direct elections increased the fraction of female mayors substantially. The results are stronger in cities with a high pre-reform share of female politicians and driven by high-quality female officials replacing undereducated incumbents. Taken together, the results of this paper inform that direct election regimes ease the selection of competent politicians into office.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Gender Studies
Gender StudiesSocial Sciences