Replication Data for: County Over Party: How Governors Prioritized Geography Not Particularism in the Distribution of Opportunity Zones

Allocating resources is a central function of government, and the distributive politics literature provides considerable evidence of leaders across the world directing resources to co-partisan voters and officials. In the U.S., studies of “presidential particularism” have recently demonstrated strategic targeting by the federal executive branch. We extend the inquiry to states using an unusually rich case in which all governors simultaneously faced decisions about allocating a constrained resource—tax advantaged status for economic development—from an exogenously generated list of geographic possibilities. We test whether governors rewarded their supporters’ and allies’ areas alongside two alternatives: 1) spreading the wealth by geographic sub-units, and 2) policy need. We do not find evidence of gubernatorial particularism. We find that Republican and Democratic governors prioritized allocating opportunity zones geographically, and made efforts to designate at least one in each county. We also find responsiveness to policy need.