Essays in Applied Microeconomics, Political Economy and Gender

This dissertation analyzes the behavior of political candidates through the application of causal inference methods to U.S. House election results. The first chapter presents a case study that examines the impact of progressive feminist protests on women’s decisions to run for political offices. In the case analyzed, progressive feminism leads to an increased number of conservative female candidates in the Republican primaries, suggesting a possible backlash. These candidates also secured enough votes to progress to the next stage of the electoral competition. The second chapter evaluates the broader consequences of these uprisings, focusing on women’s representation and changes in partisan vote shares. My findings indicate that while the protests did not directly cause women’s entry into the U.S. Congress, they did contribute to the Democratic Party’s electoral success. The third chapter investigates the electoral returns of adopting Twitter for communicating with voters through moral language. The results show that candidates utilizing Twitter are rewarded at the ballot, especially when the platform is used for moral communication. Overall, this dissertation provides new insights for understanding contemporary political dynamics, specifically regarding the political impact of feminism and social media.