This paper studies how electoral redistricting affects political representation and economic performance, using the 2008 Delimitation in India as a natural experiment. Using census and election data in a difference-in-difference design, I find that redistricting-induced demographic change reduces the number of women running for election by 24% while increasing the number of men running by 5%. These changes are driven by party nomination decisions. Demographic change also decreases women's vote share and women's probability of winning. Changes to constituency reservation status, which legally restricts candidacy, decrease an incumbent's likelihood of running for reelection by 19% and reduces their vote share by 7.1 percentage points, while generating positive spillover effects on women's candidacy in the two subsequent elections. Redistricting also hinders economic development. Constituencies with high demographic change see slower growth in school provision and a 1.48 percentage point annual decline in night-light growth, while constituencies with reservation changes see a 3.8 percentage point increase in paved road provision. The findings show independent institutional processes can produce gendered effects and hinder economic development.
Coleson Weir is from Wilmington, Delaware, and interested in development and political economy. He is a PhD fellow in the Kellogg Institute for International Studies and an affiliate of the Building Inclusive Growth (BIG) Lab. Before coming to Notre Dame, he graduated magna cum laude from the University of Delaware with an H.B.S. in Mathematics and Economics and M.S. in Economics and Applied Econometrics. While at UD, Coleson worked as a research assistant in the Dept. of Mathematical Sciences.
This seminar is sponsored by the Liu Institute's South Asia Group.