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  5. Universalism and Political Representation: Evidence from the Field

Universalism and Political Representation: Evidence from the Field

  • Benjamin Enke
  • Raymond Fisman
  • Luis Mota Freitas
  • Steven Sun
American Economic Review: Insights (Forthcoming)

Abstract

This paper provides field evidence on the link between morals and political behavior. We create a district-level variable that reflects to what degree charitable giving decreases as a function of (geographic and social) distance, which we interpret as a real-stakes measure of citizens’ values on the universalism-particularism continuum. Our measure of district universalism is strongly predictive of local Democratic vote shares, legislators’ roll-call voting, and the moral content of Congressional speeches. Spatial heterogeneity in universalism is a substantially stronger predictor of geographic variation in political outcomes than traditional economic variables such as income or education.

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