Economic Distress and Electoral Consequences: Evidence from Appalachia

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Firoozi, Daniel
• 署名单位: Claremont Colleges; Claremont Graduate University; Claremont McKenna College
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_01184
• 发表日期: 2024-05
• 页码: 778-793
• 关键词: redistribution evidence; social-mobility; preferences; manipulation; demand; media; POOR; BIAS

摘要

Information about inequality can change political attitudes in lab and survey experiments. I use data from the Appalachian Regional Commission and a regression discontinuity design to test whether salient information about local poverty can impact voter behavior in a field setting. I find that when the poorest decile of counties is labeled economically distressed, the Democratic share of the Presidential and House popular vote rises in subsequent elections. I present suggestive evidence linking this result to local news coverage, rather than spending or other outcomes.