Political Parties and Labor-Market Outcomes: Evidence from US States

Abstract

This paper estimates the causal impact of the party allegiance (Republican or Democratic) of US governors on labor-market outcomes. I match gubernatorial elections with March Current Population Survey (CPS) data for income years 1977 to 2008. Using a regression discontinuity design, I find that Democratic governors cause an increase in the annual hours worked by blacks relative to whites, which leads to a reduction in the racial earnings gap between black and white workers. The results are consistent and robust to using a wide range of models, controls, and specifications. (JEL D72, J15, J22, J31, R23)

Two tales of two U.S. states: Regional fiscal austerity and economic performance

“…Over the period 1951-2004, Chang et al (2009 found that growth rates of real per capita income and government spending tended to be higher with Democrat governors. Beland (2015) found a decrease in the annual earnings gap between whites and blacks under Democrat governors but not in weekly and hourly earnings.…”

What factors predict the passage of state‐level e‐cigarette regulations?

“…We refer interested readers to Berry et al (1998) for more details on this index. Conservative ideology is correlated with less regulation of markets in general whereas progressive ideology is correlated with support for health-related regulations in particular (Beland, 2015). Unfortunately, the ideology data are only available through 2013.…”

Party Affiliation and Public Spending: Evidence From U.S. Governors

“…While re‐electable Democrats tend to increase income taxes, lame duck Democrats tend to decrease them. Beland () and Beland and Unel (), using RDD, find that minorities such as blacks and immigrants have better labor‐market outcomes under Democratic rather than Republican governors…”

“…While re-electable Democrats tend to increase income taxes, lame duck Democrats tend to decrease them. Beland (2015) and Beland and Unel (2015a), using RDD, find that minorities such as blacks and immigrants have better labor-market outcomes under Democratic rather than Republican governors. 2 There are other studies investigating the partisan impact at other levels of government in the United States and in other countries.…”