Working Paper: NBER ID: w24770
Authors: Randall Akee; William Copeland; E. Jane Costello; John B. Holbein; Emilia Simeonova
Abstract: Despite clear evidence of an income gradient in political participation, research has not been able to isolate the effects of income on voting from other household characteristics. We investigate how exogenous unconditional cash transfers affected voting in US elections across two generations from the same household. The results confirm that there is strong inter-generational correlation in voting across parents and their children. We also show—consistent with theory—that household receipt of unconditional cash transfers has heterogeneous effects on the civic participation of children coming from different socio-economic backgrounds. It increases children’s voting propensity in adulthood among those raised in initially poorer families. However, income transfers have no effect on parents, regardless of initial income levels. These results suggest that family circumstance during childhood—income in particular—plays a role in influencing levels of political participation in the United States. Further, in the absence of outside shocks, income differences are transmitted across generations and likely contribute to the intergenerational transmission of social and political inequality.
Keywords: voting behavior; income intervention; intergenerational transmission; political participation; cash transfers
JEL Codes: D31; D72; H53; H75; I38; J15
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Unconditional cash transfers (F35) | children's voting propensity (J13) |
| parents' voting patterns (J12) | children's voting propensity (J13) |
| income differences (D31) | social and political inequality (I14) |
| initially poorer families (I24) | children's voting propensity (J13) |
| unconditional cash transfers (H53) | participatory gap between high and low-income individuals (I24) |
| receipt of unconditional cash transfers (F35) | parents' voting behavior (J12) |