Gender differences in re-contesting decisions: New evidence from French municipal elections

• Published in: Journal of economic behavior & organization 2023-10, Vol.214, p.574-594
• Main Authors: Peveri, Julieta, Sangnier, Marc
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Candidates; Competition; Elections; Gender; Persistence; Quantitative Finance; Self-selection
• ISSN: 0167-2681; 1879-1751; 0167-2681
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2023.06.022

•We explore gender differences in politicians’ re-contesting choices following electoral outcomes.•In French local elections, women are less likely to persist in competition when they lose compared to male runners-up.•They are equally or more prone than male winners to re-contest when they win.•Evidence suggests that results are driven by behavioral explanations such as crossgender differences in attitudes toward competition. This paper studies differences across genders in the re-contesting decisions of politicians following electoral wins or defeats. Using close races in mixed-gender French local elections, we show that women are less likely to persist in competition when they lose compared to male runners-up, but are equally or more prone than male winners to re-contest when they win. Differences in observable characteristics or in the expected electoral returns of running again cannot fully account for these gender gaps in persistence. In contrast, evidence suggests that results are driven by behavioural explanations such as cross-gender differences in candidates’ attitudes toward competition, or by political parties behaving differently toward female and male candidates for a given electoral outcome. Additionally, we provide evidence that a woman’s victory encourages former female challengers to re-contest but does not trigger the entry of new female candidates.