A natural experiment on discrimination in elections

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Broockman, David E.; Soltas, Evan J.
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Berkeley; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2020.104201
• 发表日期: 2020
• 关键词: Racial discrimination; Voter behavior; Taste-based discrimination

摘要

We exploit a natural experiment to study discrimination in elections. In Illinois Republican presidential primaries, voters vote for delegates bound to presidential candidates, but delegates' names convey information about their race and gender. We identify discrimination from variation in vote totals among delegates bound to the same presidential candidate and who face the same voters. Examining delegate vote totals from 2000 to 2016, we estimate nonwhite delegates receive 9% fewer votes. We find essentially no gender discrimination. Negligible incentives for statistical discrimination, costs to preferred presidential candidates, and heterogeneity are consistent with an interpretation of this behavior as taste-based. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.