Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/280638 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
AEI Economics Working Paper No. 2021-08
Publisher: 
American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Washington, DC
Abstract: 
COVID-19 relief legislation offers a unique setting to study how political representation shapes the distribution of federal assistance to state and local governments. We provide evidence of a substantial small-state bias: an additional Senator or Representative per million residents predicts an additional $670 dollars in aid per capita across the four relief packages. Alignment with the Democratic party predicts increases in states' allocations through legislation designed after the January 2021 political transition. This benefit of partisan alignment operates through the American Rescue Plan Act's sheer size, as well as the formulas through which it distributed transportation and general relief funds.
Subjects: 
Coronavirus
Political Economy
Political System
State And Local Budgets
State Government
Stimulus
JEL: 
A
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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