{"ID":6267221,"CreatedAt":"2026-07-10T01:11:38.759438437Z","UpdatedAt":"2026-07-13T01:02:08.706470581Z","DeletedAt":null,"paper_url":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.08520","arxiv_id":"2607.08520","title":"Elitism in the Aisle: A Long-Run Surname Measure of Legislative Elite Composition in Chile, 1834-2020","abstract":"The link between descriptive and substantive representation is well established in the literature but is hard to trace historically, where class records are thin. We introduce a replicable enduring-elite surname measure, pairing a contemporary socioeconomic criterion with historical elite registers, and apply it across the Chilean Congress, 1834-2020. Against a dynamic population reference built from 22.65 million birth registrations, the enduring-elite share of Congress falls from about half in the 1860s to about 12% in the 2010s, with a sharp drop of 11 to 13 points around the 1925 constitutional reform. In 1910-1950, composition co-moves with the legislative agenda, net of party: common-surname legislators emphasize labor foremost, elite legislators a statecraft agenda of defense, foreign affairs, and administration. Across this window, who sits in Congress moves together with what Congress attends to.","short_abstract":"The link between descriptive and substantive representation is well established in the literature but is hard to trace historically, where class records are thin. We introduce a replicable enduring-elite surname measure, pairing a contemporary socioeconomic criterion with historical elite registers, and apply it across...","url_abs":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.08520","url_pdf":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2607.08520v1","authors":"[\"Naim Bro\",\"Juan Pablo Luna\"]","published":"2026-07-09T14:15:54Z","proceeding":"cs.SI","tasks":"[\"cs.SI\",\"stat.AP\"]","methods":"[]","has_code":false}