Governments Are Instituted
The (Sometimes Untraceable) Origins of Policy Ideas in Congress: An Analysis of Seven Landmark Laws
Jeremy Gelman
Legislative Studies Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
Research on lawmaking suggests enactments are constructed in various ways. Although multiple approaches are documented in the literature, political scientists do not know which are used more often. In this paper, I examine how laws are created by studying seven modern landmark laws enacted during various policymaking windows. I use a text reuse approach to recursively trace each policy idea in these enactments to the original version proposed in Congress. My results show that (1) laws vary dramatically in how they are constructed, even within similar bill types; (2) when ideas linger on Congress's agenda, it is usually only for a few years, and (3) about 15% of ideas are added at the end of the legislative process where tracking the sponsor is impossible. These findings highlight the dynamism in bill construction. Among these laws, there is no “typical process,” many members contribute at many stages, and some of the largest, most consequential enactments have portions with unknown origins. The results contribute nuance to our understanding of legislative effectiveness, how it might be measured, and insight into how members engage in the legislative process when they anticipate a policy window opening.
The Double Disconnect: Skepticism about Public Economic Data and Distrust in Media Discourse about the Economy
Ken Cai Kowalski
Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World, June 2025
Abstract:
This study examines two questions: whether members of the public perceive discrepancies between economic data and their own assessments of economic conditions and how they explain discrepancies they recognize. Drawing on 78 interviews and 12 focus groups conducted with residents of three U.S. cities, the author finds an overwhelmingly common pattern of interpretation following a logic of double disconnect. People saw economic data as disconnected from reality and irrelevant to their lives. They also understood the ubiquity of these data in media discourse as evidence of elites’ and experts’ own disconnect from the concerns of ordinary citizens. This reasoning was not confined to conservatives or populists prone to institutional distrust but rather commonplace across respondents with varied political beliefs and partisan affiliations. These findings show that the ambiguous meaning of economic data, a factor unrelated to ideology or polarization, is a salient factor consolidating broad-based distrust in media discourse about the economy.
Amendment Culture in the United States: On the Nature and Effects of “Constitutional Veneration”
James Zink & Christopher Dawes
Political Research Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
Political commentators have noted a peculiar aspect of present-day political dysfunction in the United States: Americans continue to “revere” the U.S. Constitution, even though the founding document itself is arguably responsible for many of the current political problems Americans so bemoan. On this telling, Americans’ tendency to view the Constitution as sacrosanct has significantly contributed to the precarious political moment by effectively foreclosing much needed constitutional reforms. Using a randomized experiment administered on the 2020 Cooperative Election Study (CES), the present study examines these claims by (a) identifying those most likely to “venerate” the U.S. Constitution and (b) testing the extent to which a sense of constitutional veneration disposes individuals against constitutional change. Our findings suggest that while not everyone can be said to venerate the Constitution, those who do exhibit a higher baseline level of resistance to constitutional amendment. Moreover, our treatment illustrates that a sense of constitutional reverence can be activated and made accessible to individuals as they consider constitutional issues and, in turn, bias them against proposed constitutional reforms. These findings suggest that constitutional veneration, to the extent it is widespread, may contribute to constitutional stasis and the problems associated with it.
Electoral costs of political retaliation: Bipartisan rejection of attacks on corporate speech
Evan Myers, Anna Wander & Mary McGrath
Business and Politics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Overt political retribution, typically considered outside the bounds of American democracy, has recently risen to the surface of American political discourse. How do voters respond to elected officials wielding their powers of office for retributive purposes? In the current partisan political climate, do voters’ views of retribution depend on whether the official is a member of their party? Politicians in both parties have demonstrated willingness to threaten or pursue retaliation against corporations for using their political voice to publicly express opposition. Due to the American public’s ambivalence about the role of business in politics and the rights of corporations to political speech, the scenario of corporate political speech provides a useful case in which to test for partisan acceptance of the use of political retaliation. In an original and replication experiment, we find strong bipartisan rebuke of an elected official’s employment of “abusive legalism” in response to corporate political criticism. Strikingly, the negative consequences are greatest for an in-party official. The drop in support suffered by the official is equivalent to the effect of partisanship, such that an in-party official using their powers of office to “keep business out of politics” is viewed as unfavorably as a non-responsive out-party official.
Crossing the District Line: Border Mismatch and Targeted Redistribution
Allison Stashko
Journal of Politics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Electoral district borders regularly cross the borders of local governments. At the same time, legislatures allocate resources using transfers to local governments. Political parties may try to target these transfers in order to win elections, but can only do so imperfectly because of border mismatch. This border mismatch creates inequality: otherwise similar local governments receive different transfers depending on the district map. To show this, I incorporate border mismatch into a model of political competition and test the predictions using data on transfers from U.S. states to counties. The results demonstrate a novel link between redistricting and voter welfare.
The Value of Political Geography: Evidence from the Redistricting of Firms
Joaquín Artés et al.
Journal of Law and Economics, May 2025, Pages 241-267
Abstract:
We demonstrate that political geography has value to firms. We do so by exploiting shocks to political maps that occur around redistricting cycles in the United States. At one extreme, these shocks keep some firms in congressional districts that are largely unchanged and, at the other extreme, reassign some firms to largely different sets of constituents. Our main finding is that firms suffer from being reassigned to districts that are competitive across parties relative to safer districts. The effects are not trivial in magnitude. Moreover, they do not depend on whether firms continue to be represented by the same politician after the next election.
Hidden in Plain Sight: The Role of Corporate Board of Directors in Public Charity Lobbying
Changhyun Ahn, Joel Houston & Sehoon Kim
Management Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
We show that public charities with corporate directors on their boards are more likely to lobby on behalf of connected corporate interests. We document this result using granular fixed effects and alternative measures, excluding donor firms, focusing on specific legislation bills, and shocks to board connections. The effects of connections are stronger when firms face more competition, have better corporate governance, and are more exposed to political risks. Through connected charity lobbying, firms enjoy political benefits in the form of governmental procurement contracts. Policies aimed at improving the transparency of nonprofits help discipline charities who would otherwise seek funding benefits through procorporate lobbying activities. Our results highlight directors’ charitable engagement as a complementary avenue for corporate political activities.