Southern economic catch-up could independently explain realignment away from Democrats.

Evidence

Southern dealignment coincides with massive economic catch-up in the region—from 1940 to 1980, per capita income in the South rose from 60 to 89 percent of the U.S. average—which would predict a movement away from the more redistributive party. — Ilyana Kuziemko and Ebonya Washington, Why Did the Democrats Lose the South?…, 43

Categorization

• XREF: An alternative mechanism (class/redistribution motives) that must be controlled against the threatened-privilege racial account the reader is testing. — connects to: Racially conservative whites’ defection drove the Southern realignment; Southern partisan change included independent and third-party moves, not only Republican shifts. — Ilyana Kuziemko and Ebonya Washington, Why Did the Democrats Lose the South?…, 62; Economic development cannot explain Southern Democratic dealignment — Ilyana Kuziemko and Ebonya Washington, Why Did the Democrats Lose the South?…, 798 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Economic development cannot explain Southern Democratic dealignment #contradicts (0.92) — Ilyana Kuziemko and Ebonya Washington, Why Did the Democrats Lose the South?…, 798
• The racial-views mechanism nearly fully accounts for Southern whites’ partisan shift. #complicates (0.88) — Ilyana Kuziemko and Ebonya Washington, Why Did the Democrats Lose the South?…, 462
• Income and urbanization controls barely shrink the Southern Democratic-dealignment effect #contradicts (0.85) — Ilyana Kuziemko and Ebonya Washington, Why Did the Democrats Lose the South?…, 1130
• Civil-rights-era policy shifts drove southern whites into the Republican Party #contradicts (0.85) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 105
• Historians still dispute whether race or economics drove white Southern exit from the Democrats. #qualifies (0.75) — Ilyana Kuziemko and Ebonya Washington, Why Did the Democrats Lose the South?…, 49