Women’s Preferences for Social Spending: Theory and Evidence from Spanish Political Representatives

• ASCENSIÓN ANDINA-DÍAZ ^[1] ; PAULA PENALVA-PLANELLES ^[2] ; M. SOCORRO PUY ^[1]
  1. [1] Universidad de Málaga

     Universidad de Málaga

     Málaga, España

     
  2. [2] IES Ben Gabirol
• Localización: Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, ISSN 0210-1173, Nº 235, 2020 (Ejemplar dedicado a: On gender perspectives in public economics), págs. 119-151
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • We analyze whether political representatives have gendered preferences for social policies. We explore interview responses of one third of the Spanish legislators during the IX Spanish Legislature (2008- 2011). The data reveal that gender differences arise in the national chambers and within the right-wing party, where female representatives report a stronger preference for social spending on pensions and education. There are no significant gender differences within left-wing representatives or among regional representatives. From a theoretical perspective, we study how differences in gender preferences may affect both the gender identity of the parties’ candidates and the parties’ policy platforms.