Political Voice and (Mortgage) Market Participation: Evidence from Minority Disenfranchisement

Abstract

This paper documents the link between political voice and economic decision-making. Combining the repeal of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act as a shock to the enfranchisement of black Americans with granular data on the US mortgage market, we document a 14% decline in mortgage origination for black Americans. This is driven by their self-selection out of the mortgage market rather than a change in denial rate. Additionally, we observe a flight of black demand to black lenders, indicating an increase in racial homophily. Our results indicate that disenfranchisement reduces demand directly by increasing uncertainty, violence, and borrowing constraints and indirectly by increasing the threat of rejection.