Working Paper: NBER ID: w18612
Authors: Daniel B. Jones; Werner Troesken; Randall Walsh
Abstract: In this paper, we examine the political economy of voting rights in the American South. We begin by measuring the impact of both formal laws and informal modes of voter suppression on African-American political participation. In contrast to prior research, we find evidence that both formal and informal modes of voter suppression were important and mutually reinforcing. Part of our analysis includes explicitly identifying the magnitude and causal effects of lynching on black voter participation. We then turn to analyzing to the relatively unexplored question of how disenfranchisement-and the accompanying shifts in political power-affected policy outcomes, congressional voting, and partisan control of state and federal legislatures.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: H0; J15; N11
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| disenfranchisement (K16) | black political participation (K16) |
| lynching (K42) | black voter turnout (K16) |
| formal laws (K10) | black disenfranchisement (J15) |
| disenfranchisement (K16) | political power shift (P26) |
| disenfranchisement (K16) | changes in policy outcomes (D78) |
| size of black population (J15) | representative voting on issues important to black interests (D72) |