Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/290012 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
IDB Working Paper Series No. IDB-WP-1379
Publisher: 
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Washington, DC
Abstract: 
Every day, three women are murdered in the United States by a current or former partner. Yet policy action to prevent gender-based violence has been limited. Previous studies have highlighted the effect of female political representation on crimes against women in the developing world. This paper investigates whether the election of a female politician reduces the incidence of gender-based violence in the United States. Using a regression discontinuity design on mixed-gender races, we find that the election of a female House Representative leads to a short-lived decline in the prevalence of femicides in her electoral district. The drop in femicides is mainly driven by a deterrence effect that results from higher police responsiveness and effort in solving gender-related crimes.
Subjects: 
Gender-related violence
Close elections
Police effort
Regression discontinuity
JEL: 
D72
J12
J16
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc-nd Logo
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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