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Making countries small: The nationalization of districts in the United States

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  • Ignacio Lago

Abstract

I rely on data from 31,754 electoral districts in the United States from 1834 until 2016 to explore how the nationalization of politics occurs within districts. I argue that in the early stages of the American democracy local concerns were more prominent in the distant districts from the capital city than in the nearby districts, and therefore the number of parties was greater in the former than in the latter. However, these differences vanished after the New Deal, when authority was centralized. Nationalization reduced the number of parties everywhere, but above all in the most distant district from Washington, D.C.

Suggested Citation

  • Ignacio Lago, 2022. "Making countries small: The nationalization of districts in the United States," Working Papers. Collection A: Public economics, governance and decentralization 2201, Universidade de Vigo, GEN - Governance and Economics research Network.
    • Handle: RePEc:gov:wpaper:2201
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    File URL: http://infogen.webs.uvigo.es/WP/WP2201.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Country Size; Decentralization; District; Nationalization; United States.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H72 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Budget and Expenditures
    • H74 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Borrowing
    • H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism

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