A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Quantitative Analysis of Gender Stereotypes and Information Aggregation in a National Election




AuthorsTumminello M, Micciche S, Varho J, Piilo J, Mantegna RN

PublisherPUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE

Publication year2013

JournalPLoS ONE

Journal name in sourcePLOS ONE

Journal acronymPLOS ONE

Article numberARTN e58910

Number in series3

Volume8

Issue3

Number of pages10

ISSN1932-6203

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0058910(external)


Abstract
By analyzing a database of a questionnaire answered by a large majority of candidates and elected in a parliamentary election, we quantitatively verify that (i) female candidates on average present political profiles which are more compassionate and more concerned with social welfare issues than male candidates and (ii) the voting procedure acts as a process of information aggregation. Our results show that information aggregation proceeds with at least two distinct paths. In the first case candidates characterize themselves with a political profile aiming to describe the profile of the majority of voters. This is typically the case of candidates of political parties which are competing for the center of the various political dimensions. In the second case, candidates choose a political profile manifesting a clear difference from opposite political profiles endorsed by candidates of a political party positioned at the opposite extreme of some political dimension.



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