Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
==Theory Questions==
===What is the author's hypothesis? ===
===How does the author test the hypothesis? ===
===How does the author rule out alternative hypotheses? ===
===How might these tests be run if one had quantitative evidence? ===
See discussion below. This paper has both theory and empirics.
===What problems might arise in this quantitative analysis?===
A big source of problem would be to find quasi-experimental variation in disenfranchisement. Disenfranchisement typically occurs endogenously as the result of a choice by a local government. It should therefore be hard to find a naturally occurring situation in which local conditions are the same across counties, but some counties have disenfranchisement for arbitrary reasons.
no edit summary
==Empirical Questions==
===What's the author's hypothesis?===
The null hypothesis of the empirical section is that the disenfranchisement of Southern blacks (through poll taxes and literacy tests) had no effect on
*(a) Voter turnout,
* (b) The Democratic party vote share,
* (c) The teacher/child ratio for blacks,
===What do the tests achieve?===
The tests reject the null hypotheses (a)-(ce) listed above. With additional disenfranchisement laws: * (a) Voter turnout in all elections decreases. Presidential turnout decreases by 8%-11% and gubernatorial turnout decreases by 23%. ~10%-12% decrease in Congressional election turnout, less precisely estimated. * (eb) listed aboveThe Democratic party vote share increases. 5.8% increase in Democratic presidential share, and 10% increase in congressional Democratic share. Positive but insignificant effects on gubernatorial Dem voteshare. Discussion, showing pg 26. * (c) The teacher/child ratio for blacks decreases by 50% (!).* (d) The teacher/child ratio for whites don't change (bottom of pg 27).* (e) Land values in counties increase.
===How could the tests be improved?===
