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

Bernini, Andrea; Facchini, Giovanni; Testa, Cecilia

doi:10.1086/722092

Cited by 15 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Enfranchisement, therefore, increases the representation of newly enfranchised minorities (Pande, 2003). Documenting this effect, Bernini et al (2018), Marschall et al (2010) and Shah et al (2013) show that the VRA increased the representation of Black voters. Should the preferences of the newly enfranchised be at odds with those of former elites, enfranchisement changes policies.…”

Section: How Enfranchisement Influences Violence: Indirect Effectsmentioning

confidence: 72%

“…It should, first, be noted that no other federal reforms aimed at desegregation used this exact same border. The focus on counties close to the treatment border increases the comparability of counties in the treated and in the control group and reduces the probability of differences in time × space shocks, as mentioned in other papers using a similar strategy (Aneja and Avenancio-Leon, 2019;Ang, 2019;Bernini et al, 2018;Facchini et al, 2020). By focusing on the border, I assume that differences in VRA coverage created a discrete change in time and space at the treatment border when the VRA reform took place.…”

Section: Identification -Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While previous studies mainly provide evidence of the impact electoral institutions have on violence at a macro level (e.g., studies that look at democratic institutions as a whole, as in : Hegre 2001;Collier and Rohner 2008;Sunde and Cervellati 2013;Hegre 2014), the empirical setting of this study isolates the effect of enfranchisement on political violence. Third, this paper directly contributes to the growing literature on the aftermath of enfranchisement (Aidt et al, 2010;Berlinski and Dewan, 2011;Bernini et al, 2018;Larcinese, 2017;Corvalan et al, 2020;Aidt et al, 2020;Rohner and Saia, 2020). Previous studies mainly focused on the political outcomes of enfranchisement (e.g., representation or electoral results) or on the long-term economic implications of enfranchisement.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…This paper contributes to three strands of literature. First, it takes part in the debate on the consequences of the VRA (Besley et al, 2010;Cascio and Washington, 2013;Schuit and Rogowski, 2017;Fresh, 2018;Kuziemko and Washington, 2018;Bernini et al, 2018;Ang, 2019;Facchini et al, 2020). These previous studies mainly focused on the effect of the VRA on voting behavior and representation in the long run.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ballots Instead of Bullets? The Effect of the Voting Rights Act on Political Violence

Lacroix

2022

Journal of the European Economic Association

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The extension of voting rights epitomizes the construction of modern democracies. This paper empirically investigates the effect of such an enfranchisement on political violence in the context of the US Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965, which forbade discrimination in voting. The formula the VRA used to determine the counties it applied to generated both geographic and temporal local discontinuities in enfranchisement. This paper’s empirical strategy takes advantage of these features by comparing the evolution of political violence in geographically close covered and non-covered counties. Difference-in-differences estimates indicate that VRA coverage halved the incidence and the onset of political violence. Additional empirical evidence implies that voting became the new institutionalized way to state political preferences. Indeed, VRA coverage mostly decreased electoral and small-scale strategic violence. This result is not explained by disaggrievement. Extensions suggest that new strategies of political action may explain a decrease in violence after enfranchisement.

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Section: How Enfranchisement Influences Violence: Indirect Effectsmentioning

confidence: 72%

Section: Identification -Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Ballots Instead of Bullets? The Effect of the Voting Rights Act on Political Violence

Lacroix

2022

Journal of the European Economic Association

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“…Minority candidates began experiencing greater levels of success in state and local elections (Sass & Mehay, 1995). Particularly, minorities began winning elections in the South for the first time in the histories of certain states and municipalities (Bernini et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shelby County v. Holder and Changes in Voting Behavior

Rienzo

2022

The American Economist

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In Shelby County v. Holder (2013), the U.S. Supreme Court declared unconstitutional Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which required jurisdictions with histories of voter disenfranchisement to receive federal preclearance before altering voting laws. Since Shelby, 1688 polling sites across 13 states have closed. Utilizing a sample of eligible voters from the Current Population Survey, I first predict the likelihood of voting. Then, I analyze how Shelby has influenced the likelihood of ballot box access issues among non-voters. Overall voter turnout is 0.9pp lower in post- Shelby elections. Black eligible voters are 5.4pp less likely to vote after Shelby. However, Shelby is not associated with a higher likelihood of ballot box access issues. While the mechanisms through which Shelby affects voting behavior remain inconclusive, Shelby is significantly associated with widespread voter disenfranchisement. These findings are relevant for policymakers in creating a revised preclearance formula to curb voter disenfranchisement.

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Officer-Involved Killings of Unarmed Black People and Racial Disparities in Sleep Health

Venkataramani,

Bair,

Bor

et al. 2024

JAMA Intern Med

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ImportanceRacial disparities in sleep health may mediate the broader health outcomes of structural racism.ObjectiveTo assess changes in sleep duration in the Black population after officer-involved killings of unarmed Black people, a cardinal manifestation of structural racism.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsTwo distinct difference-in-differences analyses examined the changes in sleep duration for the US non-Hispanic Black (hereafter, Black) population before vs after exposure to officer-involved killings of unarmed Black people, using data from adult respondents in the US Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS; 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2018) and the American Time Use Survey (ATUS; 2013-2019) with data on officer-involved killings from the Mapping Police Violence database. Data analyses were conducted between September 24, 2021, and September 12, 2023.ExposuresOccurrence of any police killing of an unarmed Black person in the state, county, or commuting zone of the survey respondent’s residence in each of the four 90-day periods prior to interview, or occurence of a highly public, nationally prominent police killing of an unarmed Black person anywhere in the US during the 90 days prior to interview.Main Outcomes and MeasuresSelf-reported total sleep duration (hours), short sleep (&lt;7 hours), and very short sleep (&lt;6 hours).ResultsData from 181 865 Black and 1 799 757 White respondents in the BRFSS and 9858 Black and 46 532 White respondents in the ATUS were analyzed. In the larger BRFSS, the majority of Black respondents were between the ages of 35 and 64 (99 014 [weighted 51.4%]), women (115 731 [weighted 54.1%]), and college educated (100 434 [weighted 52.3%]). Black respondents in the BRFSS reported short sleep duration at a rate of 45.9%, while White respondents reported it at a rate of 32.6%; for very short sleep, the corresponding values were 18.4% vs 10.4%, respectively. Statistically significant increases in the probability of short sleep and very short sleep were found among Black respondents when officers killed an unarmed Black person in their state of residence during the first two 90-day periods prior to interview. Magnitudes were larger in models using exposure to a nationally prominent police killing occurring anywhere in the US. Estimates were equivalent to 7% to 16% of the sample disparity between Black and White individuals in short sleep and 13% to 30% of the disparity in very short sleep.Conclusions and RelevanceSleep health among Black adults worsened after exposure to officer-involved killings of unarmed Black individuals. These empirical findings underscore the role of structural racism in shaping racial disparities in sleep health outcomes.

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

Cited by 15 publications

References 39 publications

Ballots Instead of Bullets? The Effect of the Voting Rights Act on Political Violence

Ballots Instead of Bullets? The Effect of the Voting Rights Act on Political Violence

Shelby County v. Holder and Changes in Voting Behavior

Officer-Involved Killings of Unarmed Black People and Racial Disparities in Sleep Health

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