Personality Traits and the Gender Gap in Ideology

Rebecca Morton, Jean-Robert Tyran, Erik Wengström

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingBook chapterResearch

Abstract

What explains the gender gap in ideology, i.e. the observation that women tend to be more leftist than men? We provide new evidence showing that personality traits play a key role. Using a novel high-quality data set, we show that the mediating (i.e. indirect) effects of gender operating through personality traits by far dominate the direct effects of gender. They also dominate other potential differences between the sexes like income or education as explanatory factors. Our findings suggest that women tend to be more leftist than men mainly because they have different personalities, which, in turn, shape their expressed ideology. Taking such mediating effects of personality traits into account explains over three quarters of the observed gender gap in general ideological preferences.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Political Economy of Social Choices
EditorsMaria Gallego, Norman Schofield
PublisherSpringer
Pages153-185
Number of pages33
ISBN (Electronic)978-3-319-40118-8
ISBN (Print)978-3-319-40116-4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2016

Publication series

NameStudies in Political Economy
PublisherSpringer
ISSN (Print)2364-5903

Subject classification (UKÄ)

  • Gender Studies
  • Economics

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