Abstract
Did women mayors improve local security in their districts as compared to their male counterparts? Our analysis is focused on the impacts that women mayors had on the delinquency rate in Peru between 2015 and 2017. We apply sharp regression discontinuity (SRD) on official government data to estimate impacts. Despite the relatively small number of districts with female mayors, SRD passed all required assumptions and falsification tests. Our results indicate that female leadership in municipalities can reduce delinquency rate in 9 cases per 1,000 inhabitants in Peruvian districts, starting from the second year of the 4-year mandatory period. These findings complement those in recent literature that emphasize the role of women in public management.