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New publication on "Women in Political Power and School Closure during COVID Times"

News from Sep 09, 2024

The paper "Women in Political Power and School Closure during COVID Times" by Natalia Danzer, Sebastian Garcia-Torres, Max Steinahrdt, and Luca Stella is now forthcoming in Economic Policy.

You can read here the full open-access article.


Abstract:

This study explores the relationship between women’s representation in political power and school closures during the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). Using a cross-country dataset in Europe, we document a striking negative relationship between the share of female members in national governments and school closures. We show that a one-standard deviation increase in female members of national governments is associated with a significant reduction in the likelihood of school lockdowns by 24% relative to the average share of school closures. This result is robust to an extensive set of sensitivity checks. We attribute this pattern to a higher awareness of female politicians about the potential costs that school closures imply for families, in particular working mothers with young children.

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