Honors Theses

Advisor

Nancy Haskell

Department

Economics and Finance

Publication Date

12-16-2020

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between gerrymandering and home loan discrimination. Gerrymandering, the process of manipulating district plans for political gain, and discrimination in mortgage lending are both illegal; and yet, they still occur in today’s society. By using individual loan application data from the HMDA’s website, a series of regressions will be run using applicant characteristics to measure loan discrimination at the state level. Once a state level model has been constructed, a measure of gerrymandering called the Efficiency Gap will be added into the regression in order to explore the relationship between home loan discrimination and gerrymandering. Regression results suggest the presence of gerrymandering in a state is associated with more loan discrimination. A relationship of this nature is cause for further, in-depth research. This relationship could suggest that lenders and lawmakers are working collectively to keep minorities in one voting district. In doing so, the power of these individuals’ vote is effectively diminished. Seeing as every citizen is supposed to have equal access and opportunity to vote, this presents a new avenue for law makers to explore to further curtail both of these unethical actions.

Permission Statement

This item is protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code) and may only be used for noncommercial, educational, and scholarly purposes.

Keywords

Undergraduate research

Disciplines

Economics | Finance

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Included in

Finance Commons

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