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The Impact of Multimember State Legislative Districts on Welfare Policy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

Christopher W. Larimer
Christopher W. Larimer*
Affiliation:
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
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Abstract

Electing members of legislatures through multimember districts (MMDs) reduces racial and ethnic minorities' descriptive representation in those bodies, but is their substantive representation also hurt? Do legislative MMDs lead to worse policy outcomes for minorities independent of their effect on legislative demographics? To address these questions, I examine welfare policy in the states from 1997 to 2000. I find evidence that suggests that states whose upper legislative chamber is comprised of MMDs have significantly less generous welfare policy. I conclude that MMDs do indeed damage the substantive representation of racial and ethnic minorities in legislatures, independent of their effect on descriptive representation.

Type
Research Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , Fall 2005 , pp. 265 - 282
Copyright
Copyright © 2005 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

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