Equal Votes, Equal Money: Court-ordered Redistricting and the Distribution of Public Expenditures in the American States1

We examine the relationship between state legislative representation and public finances. Baker v. Carr and subsequent court cases led to the equalization of population in U.S. state legislative districts. Analysis of state transfers to counties finds strong evidence that the equalization of legislative representation had a large effect on the distribution of state money. First, crosssectional analysis shows that counties with relatively more legislative seats per person prior to redistricting received relatively more money from the state per person. Second, observing counties before and after the court ordered redistricting, counties that lost seats subsequently received a smaller share of state funds per capita. We calculate that population equalization significantly altered the flow of state transfers to counties, diverting approximately 7 billion dollars annually from formerly overrepresented to formerly underrepresented counties.