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SEMINARIO ACADEMICO CEA- MIPP/ Pablo Beramendi (Professor of Political Science at Duke University)

Cuándo: Martes 13 de enero – 12:30 PM Santiago.

Dónde: Sala Consejo (401)- Beauchef 851, piso 4 | Departamento de Ingeniería Industrial.

Tema: The Curse of Malapportionment: Spatial Inequalities, Representation, and Inefficient Redistribution.

Speaker: Pablo Beramendi (Professor of Political Science at Duke University).

Abstract:

This paper studies the link between spatial inequalities, representative institutions, and economic outcomes (redistribution and economic policies). We theorize malapportionment as a system that helps elites in skewed economic geographies coordinate to perpetuate systems of redistribution that: (1) use horizontal transfers between territories to limit the scope of interpersonal redistribution and; (2) anchor over-represented peripheral areas in persistent underdevelopment by facilitating policy bias that benefits core constituencies and a distribution of subsidies that is both disadvantageous and detrimental to regional convergence. In this sense, malapportionment works as an institutional curse on its alleged beneficiaries. Using datasets at the national and subnational levels, we demonstrate a clear link between legislative malapportionment, high levels of inter-regional distribution and patronage in over-represented districts, feeble centralized attempts to reduce economic inequality, pro-core policy bias, and persistent economic divergence in the long-run.