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Title: How Descriptive Representation Increases Labor Market Participation

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2020

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Abstract: Do the positive effects of descriptive representation expand beyond political outcomes? We ask whether the perception that government includes “people who look like you” can affect more everyday outcomes, such as investment in the future. We experimentally demonstrate that women are more likely to apply to jobs when they believe there are more women in Congress. The mechanism varies according to feelings of marginalization, which are clustered by partisanship–Democratic women feel significantly more marginalized than Republicans. Democrats update their beliefs about discrimination against women in response to treatment, while Republicans feel more empowered when they believe that Congress includes more women. We show that there is no countervailing effect among men; in fact, men are significantly more willing to apply to certain jobs when they perceive that there are more women in Congress and that this is an achievement. Our findings have implications for the importance of descriptive representation.

Url: http://www.dominikduell.com/papers/EWestDDuell_behavioralEffectsDescriptive.pdf

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Authors: West, Emily A; Duell, Dominik

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Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Other

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