Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Testing the Impact of Electoral Structures on Minority Office-Holding and Local Policies

这项研究询问地方选举结构是否对非洲裔美国人担任公职和公共政策结果有影响。这个问题的答案很重要，原因有二。首先，了解选举结构何时以及如何起作用，对于想要在地方政治中增加发言权的少数群体非常重要。其次，了解政治制度何时以及如何起作用是政治学中一个更广泛的重要问题。本研究分为两部分。第一部分检查大型的横截面数据集。这些数据被用来确定地方选举结构对非裔美国人在市议会和学校董事会任职的影响。反过来，分析显示了少数民族代表性的变化对政策结果的影响，如市政当局的再分配支出和学区的少数民族招聘。研究的第二部分着眼于1970年至1995年期间，三个北部和三个南部城市的市议会成员的投票模式，按人口比例进行匹配。这些数据使PI能够更仔细地探索选举结构对政策结果的影响，以及白人和非裔美国人委员会成员之间的双种族联盟模式。

This research asks whether local electoral structures have an impact on African-American office-holding and public policy outcomes. The answer is important for two reasons. First, knowing when and how electoral structures matter is important for minority groups wanting to increase their voice in local politics. Second, knowing when and how political institutions matter is a broader question of importance within political science. This research has two parts. The first part examines large, cross-sectional data sets. These data are used to determine the impact of local electoral structures on African-American office-holding on city council and school boards. In turn the analysis shows the impact of changes in minority representation on policy outcomes such as redistributive spending by municipalities and minority hiring by school districts. The second part of the research looks at the voting patterns of city council members in three northern and three southern cities, matched on population, over the period 1970 to 1995. These data enable the PI to more carefully explore the impact of electoral structures on policy outcomes and bi-racial coalition patterns among white and African-American council members.