全球智库信息集成服务系统(G2TT): DP12796 Effectiveness of Connected Legislators

G2TT

来源类型	Discussion paper
规范类型	论文
来源ID	DP12796
	DP12796 Effectiveness of Connected Legislators
	Marco Battaglini; Valerio Leone Sciabolazza; Eleonora Patacchini
发表日期	2018-03-20
出版年	2018
语种	英语
摘要	In this paper, we study the extent to which social connections influence the legislative effectiveness of members of the U.S. Congress. We propose a new model of legislative effectiveness that formalizes the role of social connections and generates simple testable predictions. The model predicts that a legislator's equilibrium effectiveness is proportional to a specific weighted Katz-Bonacich centrality in the network of social connections, where the weights depend on the legislators' characteristics. We then propose a new empirical strategy to test the theoretical predictions using the network of cosponsorship links in the 109th-113th Congresses. The strategy addresses network endogeneity by implementing a two-step Heckman correction based on an original instrument: the legislators' alumni connections. We find that, in the absence of a correction, all measures of centrality in the cosponsorship network are significant. When we control for network endogeneity, however, only the measure suggested by the model remains significant, and the fit of the estimation is improved. We also study the influence of legislators' characteristics on the size of network effects. In doing so, we provide new insights into how social connectedness interacts with factors such as seniority, partisanship and legislative leadership in determining legislators' effectiveness.
主题	Public Economics
关键词	Legislative effectiveness Economics of networks
URL	https://cepr.org/publications/dp12796
来源智库	Centre for Economic Policy Research (United Kingdom)
资源类型	智库出版物
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.153/handle/2XGU8XDN/541605
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Marco Battaglini,Valerio Leone Sciabolazza,Eleonora Patacchini. DP12796 Effectiveness of Connected Legislators. 2018.