ESOP gender prize to Askill Harkjerr Halse

ESOP's best master thesis on gender issues prize is awarded to Askill Harkjell Halse, for his thesis addressing whether the gender of political representatives affect policy outcomes. The award ceremony will take place on Monday, November 7, at 1:30 PM, room 1047, Eilert Sundts building.

Askill Harkjerr Halse defended his thesis "A woman's touch: The impact of gender on political priorities" at the University of Oslo in 2009, and received an ESOP scholarship for his work. Read his full thesis in DUO.

The jury's justification:
This thesis addresses an interesting and important question: Does the gender of political representatives affect policy outcomes? More specifically, does increased participation of women in politics lead to more public spending on activities and services preferred by women?
To answer this question Halse considers spending data for all Norwegian municipalities during the period 1972‐1999. Controlling for a number of other variables, he finds a small but precisely estimated association between female shares in municipality councils and spending on child care. While it is relatively straightforward to measure the association between gender shares and spending, it is far from trivial to make causality claims here. Halse is aware of this, and provides an insightful discussion of potential endogeneity problems. He uses an IV‐strategy in an attempt to overcome these problems.
A major strength of this thesis is that Halse presents, and to some extent, develops a theoretical framework that helps us think about preferences, gender and outcomes in politics. The thesis is well organized and very well written. In sum this is a master thesis of very high quality.

ESOP thanks all candidates for excellent contributions. The other candidates were:

  • Katrine Holm Reiso: "Scarring effects of unemployment?", 2010, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration.
  • Nina Bruvik Westberg: "Girls versus boys? Factors associated with children's schooling in rural Malawi", 2010, Norwegian University of Life Sciences.
  • Kaya Høyseth Brugård: "'Råtne epler' i den norske skolen? Effekter av økt jenteandel på elevprestasjoner", 2010, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
  • Laura Jermacane-Maganga: "Do grandchildren perform better at school if maternal and paternal grandparents live close-by versus when they don't?", 2010, University of Stavanger.

The prize of 25.000 NOK will be awarded on Monday, November 7, at 1:30 PM, room 1047, Eilert Sundts building.

The evaluation committee consisted of Professor Karine Nyborg, ESOP, University of Oslo, and Professor Gaute Torsvik, University of Bergen.

Published Oct. 21, 2011 3:09 PM - Last modified May 26, 2021 3:47 PM