Political Jurisdictions in Heterogeneous Communities
研究政治辖区是否在规模经济与人口异质性成本之间权衡，利用美国学区、市政等数据发现种族和收入异质性显著影响辖区边界，而民族和宗教异质性影响不大，并借助两次世界大战的冲击厘清因果关系。
We investigate whether political jurisdictions form in response to the trade-off between economies of scale and the costs of a heterogeneous population. We consider heterogeneity in income, race, ethnicity, and religion, and we test the model using American school districts, school attendance areas, municipalities, and special districts. We find strong evidence of a trade-off between economies of scale and racial heterogeneity; we also find evidence of a trade-off between economies of scale and income heterogeneity. Conversely, we find little evidence that ethnic or religious heterogeneity shapes jurisdictions. To clarify the direction of causality between heterogeneity and jurisdictions, we exploit shocks to racial heterogeneity generated by the two world wars.