Let the Voters Choose Women
研究意大利2013年地方选举中引入的双重偏好投票（基于性别）和候选人名单性别配额政策，发现女性议员比例提高18个百分点，主要源于选民对女性候选人的偏好票增加，并影响市政支出分配。
We study the effectiveness of a novel measure to reduce gender gaps in political empowerment: double preference voting conditioned on gender, coupled with gender quotas on candidate lists. This policy was introduced in 2013 in Italian local elections. Using a regression discontinuity design, we find that the share of female councilors rises by 18 percentage points. The result is mainly driven by an increase in preference votes cast for female candidates. We also find evidence of changes in the expenditure allocation in municipalities subject to the policy.