Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/279304 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 10554
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
We empirically identify politically-motivated redistricting and its consequences, studying the effects of changed electorate composition on US congressional district boundaries and on political outcomes. We exploit the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), which legalized millions of immigrants, changing local electorates without changing demographics — legalized immigrants were already counted in the census. Where Democrats controlled the 1990 redistricting process, higher IRCA populations were associated with more spatially distorted districts. Consistent with theory, Democrats packed Hispanics (their ardent supporters) into majority-minority districts. House delegations had more Hispanics suggesting that partisan gerrymandering, in this case, served the historically disadvantaged.
Subjects: 
gerrymandering
minority political representation
immigrant legalization
state governance
JEL: 
D70
P00
J10
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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