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Sovereignty, Law, and Finance: Evidence from American Indian Reservations

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  • Wellhausen, Rachel L.

Abstract

In 1953, Congress supplanted the tribal civil law on some American-Indian reservations with the civil law of the US state in which they are located. In the vein of cross-national literature on law and finance, I demonstrate that Congress's action reduced external financial actors' uncertainty over the enforcement of contracts on some reservations. Using novel data on 20,000 home loans to tribal members guaranteed by a US Housing and Urban Development program (1996–2013), I find a causal effect at the individual level: mortgage holders governed by US state civil law pay consistently lower interest rates. Thus, externally imposed law generates long-term benefits for tribal members. Nonetheless, qualitative extensions suggest that neither the presence nor the magnitude of the effect offsets many tribes' prioritization of their sovereignty, rather than the individual-level economic benefits that can result from compromising it.

Suggested Citation

  • Wellhausen, Rachel L., 2017. "Sovereignty, Law, and Finance: Evidence from American Indian Reservations," Quarterly Journal of Political Science, now publishers, vol. 12(4), pages 405-436, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:now:jlqjps:100.00016131
    DOI: 10.1561/100.00016131
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    Cited by:

    1. Bauer, Anahid & Feir, Donn. L. & Gregg, Matthew T., 2022. "The tribal digital divide: Extent and Explanations," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(9).
    2. Leonard, Bryan & Parker, Dominic P. & Anderson, Terry L., 2020. "Land quality, land rights, and indigenous poverty," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).

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