The newest "legacy candidate" in US politics is Amy Kennedy – wife of former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, son of Ted Kennedy and nephew of JFK – who will challenge former Democrat Jeff Van Drew in NJ-2. She probably has a good shot... 1/n politico.com/news/2020/02/1…
In our research (freshly updated version in link), @OlleFolke, @johannarickne and I explore why, at least historically, women have been more likely to be dynastic than their male counterparts. 2/n papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…
@OlleFolke @johannarickne We argue that the signal of "quality" inherited from a predecessor differentially helps women more than men, due to the informational disadvantages of relative newcomers to politics, like women. 3/n
@OlleFolke @johannarickne The "dynastic bias" in women's representation, that is the share of dynasties among women minus the share of dynasties among men, exists across many countries, but declines over time (from 1945 to 2016). 4/n 
@OlleFolke @johannarickne This decline in the dynastic bias coincides with the increase in women in politics (but no such relationship exists for patterns in male legacy politicians). 5/n
@OlleFolke @johannarickne In other words, the dynastic bias is higher when women are less prevalent in politics. 6/n
@OlleFolke @johannarickne We also show that the "quality" of a male (would-be) predecessor is more closely associated w/ a female successors' vote shares (in Ireland) & nomination/election (in Sweden), suggesting that selectorates use this information in evaluating new female candidates. 7/n
@OlleFolke @johannarickne Although the dynastic bias in the US has declined significantly, name recognition and other inherited resources should still be expected to give a boost to new legacy candidates like Kennedy. 8/8
