107 research outputs found
The long-term determinants of female HIV infection in Africa: The slave trade, polygyny, and sexual behavior
Full text linkWe study the long-term determinants of the high rates of female HIV prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa, with a focus on the transatlantic slave trade. Our hypothesis is that the latter contributed to the contemporaneous diffusion of polygyny and associated forms of social and sexual behavior that are conducive to HIV infection. We uncover that an increase in the rate of historical slave density causes a sizeable and robust increase in the rate of HIV prevalence, with a more marked effect among married women, and particularly those that do not live with their husbands. A higher slave density also induces more widespread female infidelity. These patterns are consistent with the hypothesis that higher-rank, non-cohabiting, younger co-wives are driven to infidelity by marital dissatisfaction. The resulting risky sexual behavior increases their likelihood to contract and transmit the virus, through the husbands, to their faithful co-wives, with a multiplicative effect among women
De Jure and de Facto Determinants of Power: Evidence from Mississippi
Full text linkWe evaluate the empirical effectiveness of de facto versus de jure determinants of political power in the U.S. South between the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. Using previously-unexploited racially-disaggregated data on voter registration in Mississippi for the years 1896 and 1899, we show that the observed pattern of black political participation is driven by de facto disfranchisement as captured by the presence of a black political majority, which negatively affects black registration. The de jure provisions introduced with the 1890 state constitution and involving literacy tests and poll taxes exert a non-robust impact. Furthermore, a difference-in-differences approach shows that the decline in aggregate turnout pre-dates the introduction of de jure restrictions and confirms a causal effect of the presence of a black political majority. De jure restrictions intensify the influence of the latter after 1890, which suggests that the main effect of the constitutional reforms may have been an institutionalization of de facto disfranchisement
COVID-19, Race, and Gender
Full text linkThe mounting evidence on the demographics of COVID-19 fatalities points to an overrepresentation of minorities and an underrepresentation of women. Using individual-level, race-disaggregated, and georeferenced death data collected by the Cook County Medical Examiner, we jointly investigate the racial and gendered
impact of COVID-19, its timing, and its determinants. Through an event study approach we establish that Blacks individuals are affected earlier and more harshly and that the effect is driven by Black women. Rather than comorbidity or aging, the Black female bias is associated with poverty and channeled by occupational seg-
regation in the health care and transportation sectors and by commuting on public transport. Living arrangements and lack of health insurance are instead found uninfuential. The Black female bias is spatially concentrated in neighborhoods that were subject to historical redlining
Racial Inequalities and the COVID-19 Pandemic
No full textSince the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, evidence has been accumulating about its disproportionate impact on racial and ethnic minorities, for a variety of health outcomes including infection, hospitalization, death, and vaccination rates. To address and quantify the extent to which minorities are disproportionally affected by COVID-19 is essential to understanding how to implement appropriate prioritization strategies for future vaccination campaigns
De jure and de facto determinants of power: Evidence from Mississippi
Full text linkWe evaluate the empirical relevance of de facto vs. de jure determinants of political power in the U.S. South between the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. We apply a variety of estimation techniques to a previously unexploited dataset on voter registration by race covering the counties of Mississippi in 1896, shortly after the introduction of the 1890 voting restrictions encoded in the state constitution. Our results indicate that de jure voting restrictions reduce black registration but that black disfranchisement starts well before 1890 and is more intense where a black majority represents a threat to the de facto power of white elites. Moreover, the effect of race becomes stronger after 1890 suggesting that the de jure barriers may have served the purpose of institutionalizing a de facto condition of disfranchisement
On the Effectiveness of Gendering Politics
No full textWe examine the effectiveness of gender reforms in increasing women’s representation in selected offices. We generate exogenous variations in representation at the Italian regional and municipal elections using the passage of two gender reforms: i) party-list gender quotas, a supply-side reform intended to influence party decisions regarding candidacy, and ii) double-gender preference systems, a demand-side reform intended to influence voting decisions on candidates. We show that party-list gender quotas have no effect on the likelihood of women winning a seat, whereas double-gender preference systems are effective in increasing women’s representation. Furthermore, we provide evidence that supply-side reforms are susceptible to party-list manipulations, which undermine their effectiveness. In constituencies with a stronger voter gender bias, supply-side reforms may also unintentionally have a negative impact on women’s representation in leadership positions
Replication Data for: Youth Enfranchisement, Political Responsiveness, and Education Expenditure: Evidence from the U.S. In Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher]. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor]
No full textThis is the replication package for "Youth Enfranchisement, Political Responsiveness, and Education Expenditure: Evidence from the US." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 12, no. 3 (August 2020): 76–106. https://doi.org/10.1257/pol.2018020
Youth Enfranchisement, Political Responsiveness, and Education Expenditure: Evidence from the U.S.
Full text linkWe examine the link between the political participation of the young and fiscal policies in the U.S. We generate exogenous variation in participation using the passage of preregistration laws, which allow the young to register before being eligible to vote. After documenting that preregistration promotes youth enfranchisement, we show that preregistration shifts state government spending toward higher education, the type of spending for which the young have the strongest preference. A 1% increase in youth voter turnout generates a 0:77% increase in higher education spending. The results collectively suggest political responsiveness to the needs of the newly enfranchised constituency
COVID-19, Race, and Redlining
Full text linkDiscussion on the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on African Americans has been at center stage since the outbreak of the epidemic in the United States. To present day, however, lack of race-disaggregated individual data has prevented a
rigorous assessment of the extent of this phenomenon and the reasons why blacks may be particularly vulnerable to the disease. Using individual and georeferenced death data collected daily by the Cook County Medical Examiner, we provide first
evidence that race does affect COVID-19 outcomes. The data confirm that in Cook County blacks are overrepresented in terms of COVID-19 related deaths since—as of June 16, 2020—they constitute 35 percent of the dead, so that they are dying at
a rate 1.3 times higher than their population share. Furthermore, by combining the spatial distribution of mortality with the 1930s
redlining maps for the Chicago area, we obtain a block group level panel dataset of weekly deaths over the period January 1, 2020-June 16, 2020, over which we establish that, after the outbreak of the epidemic, historically lower-graded neighborhoods display a sharper increase in mortality, driven by blacks, while no pretreatment differences are detected. Thus, we uncover a persistence influence of the racial segregation induced by the discriminatory lending practices of the 1930s, by way of a diminished resilience of the black population to the shock represented by the COVID-19 outbreak
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