Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

We explore the impacts of minority representation in local governments on distributional outcomes throughout the cities that they govern. In particular, we take advantage of a unique dataset identifying the ethnicity of California city council members and candidates. Our main outcome measure is drawn from housing transactions data. These data allow us to assess how the election of a nonwhite (rather than white) candidate, and any policies associated with increased minority representation, is capitalized into housing prices; we especially focus on comparing changes in housing values in majority white versus majority nonwhite neighborhoods within cities to assess how minority representation impacts distributional outcomes. Using a regression discontinuity approach, we find that the ethnicity of the candidate has no impact on average housing values in the city. However, the election of a white candidate leads to higher housing values in majority white neighborhoods and lower housing values in majority nonwhite neighborhoods. The election of a nonwhite candidate, on the other hand, has limited effect on housing values in either type of neighborhood. To probe the mechanisms driving these results, we assess the impacts of minority representation on a number of other city-level outcomes (e.g., policing and white vs. nonwhite arrest rates, Low Income Housing Tax Credit projects, the location of facilities in the Toxic Release Inventory).