April 2006

IZA DP No. 2103: Daughters and Left-Wing Voting

published in: Review of Economics and Statistics, 2010, 92 (2), 213-227

This paper provides evidence that daughters make people more left-wing. Having sons, by contrast, makes them more right-wing. Parents, politicians and voters are probably not aware of this phenomenon – nor are social scientists. The paper discusses its economic and evolutionary roots. It also speculates on where research might lead. The paper ends with a conjecture: left-wing individuals are people who come from families into which, over recent past generations, many females have been born.