Abstract
This article proposes a political economy argument for the consistent empirical observation of a negative relationship between working women and corruption: employed women influence the spending behavior of governments by requiring different public goods than men, thereby increasing the demand for public goods. Barring a significant rise in the government budget, fewer resources remain available for rents, lowering the level of corruption. I also argue that countries with a large public sector that have a high percentage of working women are less corrupt than countries with few working women. The robust empirical findings (136 countries, 20 years) support the hypotheses.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 190-216 |
Journal | Journal of Women, Politics and Policy |
Volume | 37 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 19 Apr 2016 |