Gender differences in cooperative environments? Evidence from the U.S. Congress
Files
Accepted manuscript
Date
2022-01-07
Authors
Gagliarducci, Stefano
Paserman, M. Daniele
Version
Accepted manuscript
OA Version
Citation
S. Gagliarducci, M.D. Paserman. 2022. "Gender Differences in Cooperative Environments? Evidence from The U.S. Congress." The Economic Journal, Volume 132, Issue 641, pp. 218 - 257. https://doi.org/10.1093/ej/ueab069
Abstract
This paper uses data on bill co-sponsorship in the U.S. House of Representatives to estimate gender differences in cooperative behaviour. We find that among Democrats there is no significant gender gap in the number of co-sponsors recruited, but women-sponsored bills tend to have fewer co-sponsors from the opposite party. On the other hand, we find robust evidence that Republican women recruit more co-sponsors and attract more bipartisan support on the bills that they sponsor. We interpret these results as evidence that cooperation is mostly driven by a commonality of interest, rather than gender per se.