Gender quotas and politicians’ education
研究西班牙市议会性别配额对当选议员教育水平的影响，发现配额总体上未改变教育构成，但在教育水平低的地区提升、高的地区降低。
What are the effects of gender quotas on the educational attainment of municipality councils? While extensive research examines the political consequences of gender quotas, their impact on the educational qualifications of elected officials remains unclear. This paper provides novel evidence from Spain, analyzing 119,624 elected municipal councilors across the 2003, 2007, 2011, and 2015 elections. Using a difference-in-discontinuities research design, we compare outcomes before and after quota implementation in municipalities below and above the population threshold for quota enforcement. Our results show that, on average, gender quotas have no significant effect on the educational composition of elected male and female councilors. Thus, while quotas successfully increase female representation, they appear neutral regarding the overall education levels of elected politicians. However, further analyses reveal that quotas increase the average education level of elected politicians in municipalities with initially lower education levels, but decrease it in those with higher pre-quota education levels.