EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

Race, Representation, and Local Governments in the US South: The Effect of the Voting Rights Act

Andrea Bernini, Giovanni Facchini and Cecilia Testa

Journal of Political Economy, 2023, vol. 131, issue 4, 994 - 1056

Abstract: The Voting Rights Act of 1965 redefined race relations in the United States. Yet evidence on its effect on Black office holding remains scant. Using novel data on Black elected officials between 1962 and 1980, we assess the impact of the Voting Rights Act on the racial makeup of local governments in the Deep South. Exploiting predetermined differential exposure of Southern counties to the mandated federal intervention, we show that the latter fostered local Black office holding, particularly in the powerful county commissions, controlling local public finances. In the presence of election by district, covered counties experienced Black representation gains and faster capital spending growth.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/722092 (application/pdf)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/722092 (text/html)
Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.

Related works:
Working Paper: Race, Representation and Local Governments in the US South: the effect of the Voting Rights Act (2018) Downloads
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucp:jpolec:doi:10.1086/722092

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Political Economy from University of Chicago Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Journals Division (pubtech@press.uchicago.edu).

 
Page updated 2025-03-22
Handle: RePEc:ucp:jpolec:doi:10.1086/722092