The Impact of Gender Quotas on Votes for Women Candidates: Evidence from Italy
利用意大利1995年和2000年四个大区的区域选举数据，研究发现候选人名单中引入50%的性别配额使选民选择女性候选人的概率从12%大幅提升至36%，但仍低于男性候选人的64%，表明意大利选民存在男性偏好。
To explore the impact of quotas on women's political representation, this study estimates a conditional multinomial logit for the probability of voting for men and women, utilizing data that includes all regional candidates in four Italian regions in 1995 and 2000. This regional electoral system allows voters to choose both the party and the specific candidate (open-list proportional system). The results show that the introduction of a 50 percent gender quota in candidate lists leads to a substantial increase in the probability that voters will choose women candidates, from 12 to 36 percent. Nevertheless, the probability of voting for women (36 percent) is lower than the probability for men (64 percent). Voters have a male bias in Italy. Both the district size and the political party have an effect on the probability of voting for women versus men. The more liberal the party is, the higher the probability that women receive votes.