There is an ongoing theoretical debate about whether firm-owners would optimally use stronger or ... more There is an ongoing theoretical debate about whether firm-owners would optimally use stronger or weaker incentive schemes for their managers as productmarket competition increases. Schmidt (1997) shows that the outside options of the managers play a crucial role: if the market for managers is soft, an increase in competition is more likely to result in stronger incentive schemes than if
The representation of women in top corporate ocer positions is steadily increasing. However, litt... more The representation of women in top corporate ocer positions is steadily increasing. However, little is known about the impact this will have. A large literature documents that women are dierent from men in their choices and in their preferences, but most of this literature relies on samples of college students or workers at lower levels in the corporate hierarchy. If
Using a new data set on Swiss state and local governments from 1890 to today, we analyze how the ... more Using a new data set on Swiss state and local governments from 1890 to today, we analyze how the adoption of proportional representation affects fiscal policy. We show that proportional systems shift spending toward broad goods (e.g. education and welfare benefits) but decrease spending on targetable goods (e.g. roads and agricultural subsidies). Our evidence does not suggest that proportional representation
Current research suggests that the crime-combating instrument "sentence probabil- ity" ... more Current research suggests that the crime-combating instrument "sentence probabil- ity" is more eective than "sentence severity". However, the focus of the simulta- neous (or very short-run) impact of the law enforcement policy on crime impedes a comparison of these two instruments with respect to their long-term eectiveness. With Swiss data, we investigate the dynamic interrelationships between enforcement policy and crime
In spite of increasing representation of women in politics, little is known about their impact on... more In spite of increasing representation of women in politics, little is known about their impact on policies. Comparing outcomes of parliaments with different shares of female members does not identify their causal impact because of possible differences in the underlying electorate. This paper uses a unique data set on voting decisions to sheds new light on gender gaps in policy
Using a unique historical dataset of all Swiss cantons from 1890 to 2000, we estimate the causal ... more Using a unique historical dataset of all Swiss cantons from 1890 to 2000, we estimate the causal eect of direct democracy on government spending. Our analysis is novel in two ways: …rst, we use …xed eects to control for unobserved heterogeneity across cantons; second, we combine a new instrument with …xed eects to address the potential endogeneity of institutional reform.
This paper combines unique individual-level information on ballot votes with state-level data on ... more This paper combines unique individual-level information on ballot votes with state-level data on expenditures to provide new evidence on how women suffrage has affected government spending. Using data from the last country in Europe to adopt suffrage, Switzerland, we demonstrate two main results. First, women suffrage has changed the scope of government much more than its size. Women are more likely to support expenditures for public goods like environment and public transport, but oppose defense spending and subsidies for agriculture. Second, the political gender gap has shifted over time. While women were equally likely than men to support publicly provided health and welfare services shortly after suffrage adoption, their demand for these services has increased over the past two decades. We calculate that ten years after women suffrage, total expenditures are around 7 percent lower than prior to adoption, while welfare expenditures are 10 percent higher.
Previous studies on direct democracy seem to suggest that direct voter participation is associate... more Previous studies on direct democracy seem to suggest that direct voter participation is associated with less government spending. If institutions re ‡ect the preferences of the electorate, however, the observed negative correlation could be explained by di¤erences in institutions, di¤erences in voter preferences, or a combination of both. Using unique voting data on 331 propositions from Switzerland, we document that the demand for government is systematically lower in states with stronger direct democracy. We further show that voter preferences have a stable and sizable e¤ect on government spending even conditional on observable characteristics. Once we fully control for preferences, the e¤ect of direct democracy on government spending declines by up to 30 percent. The results in this article provide empirical support for models, in which both voter preferences and direct democratic institutions are important determinants of the size of government.
This paper tests whether the …scal policy response to a large change in voter preferences depends... more This paper tests whether the …scal policy response to a large change in voter preferences depends on institutional rules governing the budgetary process. Theory suggests that policies in more direct democratic regimes are "closer" to that of the median voter. We provide direct evidence on how voter preferences shifted when women su¤rage was introduced in Switzerland using federal referendums. In a second step, we link the preference parameters to data on …scal policy outcomes and canton characteristics. Controlling for voter preferences, the e¤ect of direct democracy on log expenditures and revenues declines by 5 to 45 percent. We do however not …nd evidence that cantons with more direct democracy are in general more responsive to shifts in voter preferences.
Previous studies on direct democracy seem to suggest that direct voter participation is associate... more Previous studies on direct democracy seem to suggest that direct voter participation is associated with less government spending. If institutions re ‡ect the preferences of the electorate, however, the observed negative correlation could be explained by di¤erences in institutions, di¤erences in voter preferences, or a combination of both. Using unique voting data on 331 propositions from Switzerland, we document that the demand for government is systematically lower in states with stronger direct democracy. We further show that voter preferences have a stable and sizable e¤ect on government spending even conditional on observable characteristics. Once we fully control for preferences, the e¤ect of direct democracy on government spending declines by up to 30 percent. The results in this article provide empirical support for models, in which both voter preferences and direct democratic institutions are important determinants of the size of government.
This paper exploits a natural experiment to investigate the consequences of women making politics... more This paper exploits a natural experiment to investigate the consequences of women making politics at large scale. Our analysis focuses on Switzerland, the world leader in direct democracy, where all citizens can directly decide on a broad range of policies in referendums and initiatives. Exploiting surveys on individual voting behavior for all federal votes held between 1983 and 2003, we show that there are large gender gaps in the areas of health, environmental protection, defense spending and welfare policy which typically persist even conditional on socio-economic characteristics. We also find that female policy makers have a substantial effect on the composition of public spending, but a small effect on the overall size of government.
Using a new dataset of Swiss cantons from 1890 to 2000, we estimate the causal effect of direct d... more Using a new dataset of Swiss cantons from 1890 to 2000, we estimate the causal effect of direct democracy on government spending. Our analysis is novel in two ways: first, we use fixed effects to control for unobserved heterogeneity; second, we combine a new instrument with fixed effects to address the potential endogeneity of institutional reform. We find that direct democracy has a constraining, but modest effect on spending. Our estimates suggest that a mandatory budget referendum reduces canton expenditures by 9 percent. A decline in the signature requirement for the voter initiative by one percent reduces spending by 2.2 percent. We find no evidence that direct democracy at the canton level results in higher local spending or a more decentralized government.
There is an ongoing theoretical debate about whether firm-owners would optimally use stronger or ... more There is an ongoing theoretical debate about whether firm-owners would optimally use stronger or weaker incentive schemes for their managers as productmarket competition increases. Schmidt (1997) shows that the outside options of the managers play a crucial role: if the market for managers is soft, an increase in competition is more likely to result in stronger incentive schemes than if
The representation of women in top corporate ocer positions is steadily increasing. However, litt... more The representation of women in top corporate ocer positions is steadily increasing. However, little is known about the impact this will have. A large literature documents that women are dierent from men in their choices and in their preferences, but most of this literature relies on samples of college students or workers at lower levels in the corporate hierarchy. If
Using a new data set on Swiss state and local governments from 1890 to today, we analyze how the ... more Using a new data set on Swiss state and local governments from 1890 to today, we analyze how the adoption of proportional representation affects fiscal policy. We show that proportional systems shift spending toward broad goods (e.g. education and welfare benefits) but decrease spending on targetable goods (e.g. roads and agricultural subsidies). Our evidence does not suggest that proportional representation
Current research suggests that the crime-combating instrument "sentence probabil- ity" ... more Current research suggests that the crime-combating instrument "sentence probabil- ity" is more eective than "sentence severity". However, the focus of the simulta- neous (or very short-run) impact of the law enforcement policy on crime impedes a comparison of these two instruments with respect to their long-term eectiveness. With Swiss data, we investigate the dynamic interrelationships between enforcement policy and crime
In spite of increasing representation of women in politics, little is known about their impact on... more In spite of increasing representation of women in politics, little is known about their impact on policies. Comparing outcomes of parliaments with different shares of female members does not identify their causal impact because of possible differences in the underlying electorate. This paper uses a unique data set on voting decisions to sheds new light on gender gaps in policy
Using a unique historical dataset of all Swiss cantons from 1890 to 2000, we estimate the causal ... more Using a unique historical dataset of all Swiss cantons from 1890 to 2000, we estimate the causal eect of direct democracy on government spending. Our analysis is novel in two ways: …rst, we use …xed eects to control for unobserved heterogeneity across cantons; second, we combine a new instrument with …xed eects to address the potential endogeneity of institutional reform.
This paper combines unique individual-level information on ballot votes with state-level data on ... more This paper combines unique individual-level information on ballot votes with state-level data on expenditures to provide new evidence on how women suffrage has affected government spending. Using data from the last country in Europe to adopt suffrage, Switzerland, we demonstrate two main results. First, women suffrage has changed the scope of government much more than its size. Women are more likely to support expenditures for public goods like environment and public transport, but oppose defense spending and subsidies for agriculture. Second, the political gender gap has shifted over time. While women were equally likely than men to support publicly provided health and welfare services shortly after suffrage adoption, their demand for these services has increased over the past two decades. We calculate that ten years after women suffrage, total expenditures are around 7 percent lower than prior to adoption, while welfare expenditures are 10 percent higher.
Previous studies on direct democracy seem to suggest that direct voter participation is associate... more Previous studies on direct democracy seem to suggest that direct voter participation is associated with less government spending. If institutions re ‡ect the preferences of the electorate, however, the observed negative correlation could be explained by di¤erences in institutions, di¤erences in voter preferences, or a combination of both. Using unique voting data on 331 propositions from Switzerland, we document that the demand for government is systematically lower in states with stronger direct democracy. We further show that voter preferences have a stable and sizable e¤ect on government spending even conditional on observable characteristics. Once we fully control for preferences, the e¤ect of direct democracy on government spending declines by up to 30 percent. The results in this article provide empirical support for models, in which both voter preferences and direct democratic institutions are important determinants of the size of government.
This paper tests whether the …scal policy response to a large change in voter preferences depends... more This paper tests whether the …scal policy response to a large change in voter preferences depends on institutional rules governing the budgetary process. Theory suggests that policies in more direct democratic regimes are "closer" to that of the median voter. We provide direct evidence on how voter preferences shifted when women su¤rage was introduced in Switzerland using federal referendums. In a second step, we link the preference parameters to data on …scal policy outcomes and canton characteristics. Controlling for voter preferences, the e¤ect of direct democracy on log expenditures and revenues declines by 5 to 45 percent. We do however not …nd evidence that cantons with more direct democracy are in general more responsive to shifts in voter preferences.
Previous studies on direct democracy seem to suggest that direct voter participation is associate... more Previous studies on direct democracy seem to suggest that direct voter participation is associated with less government spending. If institutions re ‡ect the preferences of the electorate, however, the observed negative correlation could be explained by di¤erences in institutions, di¤erences in voter preferences, or a combination of both. Using unique voting data on 331 propositions from Switzerland, we document that the demand for government is systematically lower in states with stronger direct democracy. We further show that voter preferences have a stable and sizable e¤ect on government spending even conditional on observable characteristics. Once we fully control for preferences, the e¤ect of direct democracy on government spending declines by up to 30 percent. The results in this article provide empirical support for models, in which both voter preferences and direct democratic institutions are important determinants of the size of government.
This paper exploits a natural experiment to investigate the consequences of women making politics... more This paper exploits a natural experiment to investigate the consequences of women making politics at large scale. Our analysis focuses on Switzerland, the world leader in direct democracy, where all citizens can directly decide on a broad range of policies in referendums and initiatives. Exploiting surveys on individual voting behavior for all federal votes held between 1983 and 2003, we show that there are large gender gaps in the areas of health, environmental protection, defense spending and welfare policy which typically persist even conditional on socio-economic characteristics. We also find that female policy makers have a substantial effect on the composition of public spending, but a small effect on the overall size of government.
Using a new dataset of Swiss cantons from 1890 to 2000, we estimate the causal effect of direct d... more Using a new dataset of Swiss cantons from 1890 to 2000, we estimate the causal effect of direct democracy on government spending. Our analysis is novel in two ways: first, we use fixed effects to control for unobserved heterogeneity; second, we combine a new instrument with fixed effects to address the potential endogeneity of institutional reform. We find that direct democracy has a constraining, but modest effect on spending. Our estimates suggest that a mandatory budget referendum reduces canton expenditures by 9 percent. A decline in the signature requirement for the voter initiative by one percent reduces spending by 2.2 percent. We find no evidence that direct democracy at the canton level results in higher local spending or a more decentralized government.
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Papers by Patricia Funk