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This paper investigates how upward mobility affects legislator voting behavior towards education reforms. We develop an electoral competition model where voters are parents who value the future economic status of their children, while children's economic status is affected by public education and upward mobility. The model predicts a decrease in legislator support for redistributive education policy with a rise in upward mobility. We test this hypothesis using a newly compiled dataset of roll call voting on California education legislation matched with electoral district-level upward mobility. Our findings suggest that the likelihood of a legislator voting “no” on redistibutive education bills increases by 10% when upward mobility in his electoral district increases by a standard deviation.
