Redistricting: It just doesn't matter

Jerry Wright, Jon Winburn, and I have a new piece in PS looking at the impact of redistricting on electoral competition and partisan polarization in state legislatures. Our main finding? Not much of an effect. As we argue,

The effects of partisan redistricting on competition and polarization are small, considerably more nuanced than reformers would suggest, and overwhelmed by other aspects of the political environment.

We also find that, to the extent that redistricting does affect electoral competition, it seems to have a similar effect no matter who does it, whether it's a partisan legislature or a nonpartisan panel of citizens or judges.