Disenfranchisement and Economic Inequality: Downstream Effects of Shelby County v. Holder
AEA Papers and Proceedings
vol. 109,
May 2019
(pp. 161-65)
Abstract
The 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA) is considered by many to be the most effective civil rights law ever passed. In 2013, the Supreme Court struck down important provisions from the VRA in Shelby County v. Holder. This paper first discusses how the potential weakening of minority political power brought about by Shelby County may have made the government less responsive to minorities' policy demands. Then we proceed to show that the lack of minority power is already producing economic inequality that is reflected in public-sector wages and in private-sector occupations with a high number of public workers.Citation
Aneja, Abhay P., and Carlos F. Avenancio-León. 2019. "Disenfranchisement and Economic Inequality: Downstream Effects of Shelby County v. Holder." AEA Papers and Proceedings, 109: 161-65. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20191085Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D63 Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
- D72 Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
- J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
- J31 Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
- J45 Public Sector Labor Markets
- K16 Election Law
- K38 Human Rights Law; Gender Law