Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/268064 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
Discussion Papers No. 988
Publisher: 
Statistics Norway, Research Department, Oslo
Abstract: 
Previous literature has found that extending the suffrage to both females and poorer voters increases the supply of public goods. This paper investigates whether the difference in voting between men and women can be explained by differences in income alone, or if there exist gender specific differences in preferences. I exploit two key features of the expansion of suffrage in municipality elections in early 20th century Norway. First, the time at which people gained the right to vote depended on both their gender and their household income. Second, the income threshold for suffrage was set nationally, creating variation across municipalities in the share of new voters following each extension of the suffrage. This variation allows me to estimate separate effects for the change in supply of health personnel following the extension of suffrage to poor men, rich women, and poor women, respectively. I find that the enfranchisement of both poor men and rich women increases the supply of doctors relative to when only rich men had the right to vote. These results are consistent with gender specific preferences for health services to the community.
Subjects: 
Enfranchisement
women's suffrage
public goods
welfare state
JEL: 
P16
H42
D72
J16
N24
N44
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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