Political parties and economic outcomes. A review

This paper presents a review of the impact of the political parties of US governors on key economic outcomes. It presents the impact of Democratic versus Republican governors on pollution, spending, policies, and labor market outcomes, using a regression discontinuity design (RDD). It shows a lower level of pollution under Democratic governors and an increase in the share of spending on education and health. It also shows that blacks, immigrants, and other minorities have better labor-market outcomes relative to white natives under Democratic governors.