American Economic Journal:
Economic Policy
ISSN 1945-7731 (Print) | ISSN 1945-774X (Online)
Does Less Income Mean Less Representation?
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
vol. 5,
no. 2, May 2013
(pp. 53–76)
Abstract
We assemble a novel dataset of matched legislative and constituent votes and demonstrate that less income does not mean less representation. We show: (i) The opinions of high- and low-income voters are highly correlated; the legislator's vote often reflects the desire of both. (ii) What differences in representation by income exist vary by legislator party. Republicans more often vote the will of their higher income over their lower income constituents; Democratic legislators do the reverse. (iii) Differences in representation by income are largely explained by the correlation between constituent income and party affiliation. (JEL D31, D72)Citation
Brunner, Eric, Stephen L. Ross, and Ebonya Washington. 2013. "Does Less Income Mean Less Representation?" American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 5 (2): 53–76. DOI: 10.1257/pol.5.2.53Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D31 Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions
- D72 Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
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