Are Diverse Legislatures More Likely to Address Environmental Justice? Evidence from the 50 States

Abstract

In this paper we argue that greater diversity in state legislatures makes them more likely to address environmental justice because greater diversity improves problem solving on complex tasks and better represents the perspectives of marginalized and excluded groups who are most likely to be affected by these problems. Taking diversity in state legislatures into account helps us to understand why some legislatures are more active on these important problems than others, providing insight into state policymaking as well as the role of diversity in enable groups better to grapple with pressing public problems. It also applies arguments about the impact of descriptive representation to a new area (EJ) and in a new way (focusing on the collective impact of diversity, rather than the distinctive behavior of individual legislators).