The Last Shall Be Last
Ethnic, Racial, and Nativist Bias in Distributive Politics
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12010487 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Gerald Gamm (0000-0003-1971-9448, University of Rochester, corresponding author), Thad Kousser (0000-0002-5489-5837, University of California San Diego) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 48 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 765-796 |
| Publication date | 2023-01-30 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Legislative Studies Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0362-9805 • E-ISSN: 1939-9162 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/lsq.12413 |
| OpenAlex | W4318481391 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 59 |
Examining historical budget and spending patterns from state legislatures, we show that inequality evident in other realms of American politics had a profound, dollars‐and‐cents, impact on the expenditures that flowed to political districts. Given the salience of race, class, and immigration status to American politics, we would expect that distributive spending reflects the same biases that shape voting patterns, representation, and policymaking. But, to our knowledge, this question has not previously been studied. Drawing on detailed, archival data from six states in the 1921–61 era, we uncover clear evidence of bias. Districts with more immigrants win significantly less money, controlling for a host of other factors. So do districts with large numbers of non‐whites. Thus residents of districts dominated by native‐born, Anglo constituencies receive more dollars than those in other districts, even when controlling for the identities of legislators and other characteristics of the districts
Demographic economics · Development economics · Economics · Ethnic group · Immigration · Inequality · Legislature · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Race (biology · Representation (politics · Salience (neuroscience · Sociology · Voting · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Fiscal Policies and Political Economy · Gender Politics and Representation · Gender Studies · Law · Psychology
Black Faces, Black Interests
Southern politics in State and Nation
Pork barrel politics
The theory of political coalitions.
Congress, keystone of the Washington establishment
Spatial Models of Parliamentary Voting
White Backlash
Congress in Black and White
Minority Report
White-Collar Government
Party Control of State Government and the Distribution of Public Expenditures
On Buying Legislatures
Party, Electoral Vulnerability, and Earmarks in the U.S. House of Representatives
Faces of Inequality
Politics
Affluence and Influence
Geographic Politics in the U.S. House of Representatives
Geographic Politics in the U.S. House of Representatives
Congress, The Electoral Connection
Sizing Up the Senate
The Industrial Organization of Congress; or, Why Legislatures, Like Firms, Are Not Organized as Markets
On the Causes and Consequences of and Remedies for Interstate Malapportionment of the U.S. House of Representatives
Who Influences U.S. Foreign Policy
A Racial/Ethnic Diversity Interpretation of Politics and Policy in the States of the U.S
Giving the People What They Want? The Distribution of Earmarks in the U.S. House of Representatives
Minorities and Direct Legislation
Where Turnout Matters
Representation and Public Policy
Apportionment Cycles as Natural Experiments
Testing Theories of American Politics
Voice and Inequality
Government Redistribution in the Shadow of Legislative Elections
Bringing Home the Bacon
Structural Choices and Representational Biases
The Effect of Electoral Geography on Pork Barreling in Bicameral Legislatures
Constituency Characteristics and the "Guardian" Model of Appropriations Subcommittees, 1959-1998
Demand-Side Theory and Congressional Committee Composition
Cardinals or Clerics? Congressional Committees and the Distribution of Pork
Political Parties and the Distribution of Federal Outlays
Policy and Pork
Ignorance Is Bias
Where's the Party
Assessing the Allocation of Pork
Equal Votes, Equal Money
The Institutional Foundations of Committee Power
No Strength in Numbers
Senate Representation and Coalition Building in Distributive Politics
Federal Spending in Congressional Districts
What Do I Need to Vote? Bureaucratic Discretion and Discrimination by Local Election Officials
The Allocation of Federal Aid Monies
Partisanship and the Allocation of Federal Spending
Broad Bills or Particularistic Policy? Historical Patterns in American State Legislatures
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |