Female politicians in municipal councils and fiscal performance.

Empirical research has tried to explain the effect of female politicians on various outcomes of political institutions. Few studies have focused on how the gender of politicians may affect institutional fiscal performance. Our research shows that both a female mayor, although with limited effect, and a greater share of female councillors worsen the fiscal performance of Spanish municipalities, which contrasts with the hypotheses raised, which were based on the mainstream of theoretical literature. Furthermore, right‐wing female councillors significantly increase the current budgetary imbalances, and female mayors with the same ideology seem to reduce the level of debt per capita. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]