Footnote:
Nach Informationen von SSRN wurde die ursprüngliche Fassung des Dokuments January 30, 2023 erstellt
Description:
In this paper, we analyze the relationship between minority and majority in politics, and how it can influence policy outcomes and potential conflict between parties. In particular, we focus on the consequences of a sudden increase in the political power of a minority (e.g. female politicians after a gender quota), and its potential effects on the relationship with the long-standing majority. We first present a theoretical model describing the possible consequences of such an increase in a minority’s political power and show how it can increase difficulties in reaching a compromise on policy outcomes between parties. In the case of a high increase in minority’s power, its demands in terms of policy outcomes increase and make the compromise costlier for the majority, which might prefer to engage in conflict. Furthermore, we empirically test these implications by exploiting the introduction in 2012 of a gender quota in Italian local elections. By the means of a Difference-in-Discontinuity strategy, we show how the generated increase in female politicians had heterogeneous effects on the level of funding for daycare, based on its differential effects on the share of post-quota women councillors. For high shares of female councillors, a decrease in expenditure for day care was observed, while in municipalities with low shares the quota was followed by an increase in funding for day care