Research
Research
Do I look Good Enough to Win? Gender and Electoral Success.
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Short abstract: A part of the investigation of electoral results in political economy affirms that physical appearance influences the evaluation that voters make, and therefore, can influence their votes, but that this evaluation is not the same for male candidates as for women. This paper examines the impact of dominance, beauty, and the emotions expressed by candidates on voter behavior in Colombian municipal elections from a gender perspective. Taking three local elections and information from almost 14.000 candidates, the main findings are: having a dominant face increases the percentage of votes for male candidates more than for women, while beauty influences the votes they receive in female candidates, and showing happiness is important for both genders, while showing anger is only significant for men. The results suggest that physical appearance does matter in politics.
Friends to Win, Friends to Govern. Strategic Convergence of Electoral Platforms in Local Elections (JMP).
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Short abstract: This paper examines the factors influencing strategic convergence in municipal electoral platforms, focusing on the role of government majorities in city councils. In Colombia, elected mayors are required to present a development plan for approval by the city council, which can create potential tensions between fulfilling electoral promises and ensuring governability. Using a unique and novel dataset from the 2019 Colombian municipal elections, I analyze the manifestos and development plans of elected mayors using text mining techniques and a regression discontinuity design extended to the context of proportional representation systems to measure the extent of deviations from their campaign promises. The study finds that mayors from electoral coalitions are more consistent with their campaign promises than those from single-party platforms, as coalition dynamics limit deviations. Ideologically extreme mayors prioritize consistency over flexibility, showing less deviation even under governability pressures. Lastly, the presence of a runner-up in the council leading a hard opposition does not significantly impact mayoral behavior. The study highlights the parallels between municipal governance and legislative negotiations, emphasizing how institutional frameworks and coalition dynamics influence the balance between electoral commitments and practical governance.
Faces or Facts? Experimental Evidence on Time Pressure, Information Costs, and Gender Bias in Electoral Choice with Andrea Canales.
Leadership Styles in Politics and Gender Stereotypes. Draft available in Spanish upon request.
Short abstract: The primary objective of this study is to determine whether there are gender differences between the mayoral candidates and the leadership styles they propose, based on the way they outline their campaign slogans, values, principles, service mission, and form. To present the development vision of the municipality and its topics of interest. For this, the candidates' manifestos from the 2019 local elections in Colombia are used as input. Using natural language processing methodologies, such as sentiment analysis and a Structured Topic Model (STM), I found evidence that gender stereotypes are reinforced in politics. The language used, as well as the topics of interest in the manifestos, align with the leadership styles expected for men and women in society. However, in the items analyzed, no substantial gender differences in language sentiments were identified.
Book chapter: Ruiz, F, Botello, H, & Marín, N. (2013) Chapter: “Spatial convergence of local multidimensional poverty in a sample of Latin American countries”. In Boltvinik, J. et al (ed), Multidimensionality of poverty, proposals for its definition and evaluation in Latin America and the Caribbean (pp. 187-232). Buenos Aires, Argentina: CLACSO-CROP. ISBN: 978-987-1891-66-5. Available here