Working Papers
Do Housing Supply Skeptics Learn? Evidence from Economics and Advocacy Treatments.
Abstract: Recent research finds that most people want lower housing prices but, contrary to expert consensus, do not believe that more supply would lower prices. This study tests the effects of four informational interventions on Americans’ beliefs about housing markets and associated policy preferences and political actions (writing to state lawmakers). Several of the interventions significantly and positively affected economic understanding and support for land-use liberaliza- tion, with standardized effect sizes of 0.15 − 0.3. The most impactful treatment—an educational video from an advocacy group—had effects 2-3 times larger than typical economics-information or political-messaging treatments. Learning about housing markets increased support for development among homeowners as much as renters, contrary to the “homevoter hypothesis.” The treatments did not significantly affect the probability of writing to lawmakers, but an off-plan analysis suggests that the advocacy video increased the number of messages asking for more market-rate housing.
Single Family Schoolyards: Residential Zoning and School Segregation.
Abstract: Though the Supreme Court’s 1955 decision in Brown v. Board of Education outlawed explicit segregation of public schools, segregation has remained stubbornly persistent in the intervening decades. What explains continuous racial segregation in the absence of explicit policy? One possible driver is America’s built environment–designed with similar segregationist impulses but not subject to corrective legal action. Zoning and land use policy may inhibit residential mobility which in turns leads to segregated schools. I investigate this drawing on data from over 150 million residential parcels provided by Zillow. I find that school districts whose boundaries include a higher proportion of single-family parcels have a higher proportion of White students and more racial concentration than districts whose boundaries include more mixed types of housing. However, I do not find that districts with more single-family parcels have more racially segregated student populations compared to the larger metro area. These findings help illuminate how land use policy influences educational segregation and contributes to literature on how policies that regulate the built environment affect racial sorting.
Backlashes to Gender Equality and Authoritarian Populism in the U.S
Abstract: According to some, backlash toward gender equality is fueling support for the radical and populist right in many countries-and maybe the rise of Trumpism in the United States. We argue there are different strains of backlash: one stems from a preference for traditional gender arrangements (traditionalist backlash), another from competition with women in the labor market (competitive backlash), and still another from concerns about the ability to attract a female partner as women become less reliant on men for economic security (mate value backlash). We expect that traditionalist backlash will manifest in a preference for traditional gender roles, among older men, but that competitive and mate value backlash would be found in other types of sexist attitudes, among younger, single, low socioeconomic status (SES) men. Geographically, mate value backlash would be expected in areas where there are relatively large numbers of men but few women, and thus more competition for mates, while the opposite would be true for competitive backlash, and traditionalist backlash would be found where there are more older males. We use both county-level and micro-level data to test our arguments. Using ANES data, at the micro-level we find that while traditionalist gender attitudes are more prevalent among older men, in recent years other types of sexism are more prominent among younger, single, lower SES males. Anti-feminist attitudes have long been associated with a preference for Republicans, but only recently have such views become more likely among younger, low SES men. At the county level, we find that large gender-imbalances in favor of males correlate with higher county vote share for GOP candidates, consistent with mate value backlash.
Buying the Ballot: Political Actors and Official Ballot Initiative Language with Mitch Downey, Economics, Stockholm IIES.
Abstract: At the time of their inception in the Progressive Era, ballot initiatives were intended as a way for citizens to wrest control of the policy making process away from politicians corrupted by special interests. However, this measure of popular sovereignty may not be as immune to meddling these same special interests as either the founders of direct democracy or the literature suggests. Many voters learn about initiatives only from the titles and summaries appearing on ballots, which are themselves written by elected politicians. We study that special interest groups influence the wording of these official ballot initiative summaries, showing that summaries are more likely to use supporters’ preferred language as supporters contributed more to the summary writer. This relationship holds true even when the summary writer is running for a different office and does not exist in summaries written by an independent, apolitical non-profit group. We then show that donors are more likely to give to Attorney General candidates when relevant initiatives appear on the ballot. This result is not reflected in broader state-level political activity and exists only in states where the Attorney General writes the summary. Our results show the risks of tasking elected officials with fundamentally bureaucratic tasks and indicate that this process designed to reduce the power of special interests over the legislative process may have actually given them another avenue of control.