The Distributional Impact of Greater Responsiveness: Evidence from New York Towns

Sances, Michael W.

doi:10.1086/683026

Cited by 15 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…In Madison’s ([1788] 1966) propitious view of representative democracy, elections discipline politicians should they fail to serve voters’ interests. However, our results could also be indicative of pandering (Canes-Wrone, Herron and Shotts 2001) or responsiveness to a subset of constituents (Sances 2016), rather than diligent effort to serve all residents. Two pieces of evidence leave us more hopeful.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

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Do Elections Improve Constituency Responsiveness? Evidence from US Cities

Christensen¹,

Ejdemyr²

2018

PSRM

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Do elections motivate incumbent politicians to serve their voters? In this paper, we use millions of service requests placed by residents in US cities to measure constituency responsiveness. We then test whether an unusual policy change in New York City, which enabled city councilors to run for three rather than two terms in office, improved constituency responsiveness in previously term-limited councilors’ districts. Using difference-in-differences, we find robust evidence for this. Taking advantage of differential timing of local election races in New York City and San Francisco, we also find late-term improvements to responsiveness in districts represented by reelection-seeking incumbents. Elections improve municipal services, but also create cycles in constituency responsiveness. These findings have implications for theories of representative democracy.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

“… 4 Related research has also studied the impact of elections versus appointments, finding that elected representatives are more responsive (Grossman 2014) and serve a broader set of constituents Sances (2016) than appointed leaders.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Elections Improve Constituency Responsiveness? Evidence from US Cities

Christensen¹,

Ejdemyr²

2018

PSRM

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“…This work joins the research on the effect of elections versus appointment on government performance, including comparisons between electing and appointing judges, prosecutors, election administrators, city treasurers, regulators, and school officials (Huber and Gordon 2004, Bandyopadhyay and McCannon 2014, Kimball and Kropf 2006, Whalley 2013, Besley and Coate 2003, Sances 2016, Partridge and Sass 2011. The findings are mixed with re-spect to the impact of elections on policy and performance, but the growing interest in research questions about local elected officials, many of which are unique to the United States, suggests that we need to better understand the historical motivations for adopting these institutions and their persistence over time.…”

Section: Literature 21 Political Science On Sheriffsmentioning

confidence: 95%

The Rise (and Fall) of Elected Sheriffs

DeHart

2020

Preprint

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Voters in almost every state elect county sheriffs but political science has only recently turned its attention to this important office. In this paper, I trace the historical processes that led Americans to begin electing sheriffs in the 18th and 19th centuries, as well as modern reforms to reverse that trend. Pairing newly-collected data on the timing of reforms that democratized local offices with narrative history, I show that the institution of elected sheriff spread gradually across the country and, in many states, Americans were deeply conflicted about subjecting this important office to popular choice. One finding is that sheriffs, in most states, became elective sooner than prosecutors and judges. I also provide evidence of the institution's slow retrenchment: today, there are four states and thirteen counties, home to over 20 million Americans, that do not elect sheriffs. The paper concludes with a discussion about the national importance of this local institution in American politics.

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“…Middleand upper-class citizens may also look down on lower class citizens for "poor choices," and be disinclined to support measures mainly targeted at helping them (e.g., Gilens, 1999). Additionally, policy making elites insulated from electoral pressure may be more sympathetic to redistribution than average voters, suggesting that a move toward direct democracy could reduce inclination to pursue redistributive policy (Sances, 2016).…”

Section: Theory and Expectationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

American State Ballot Initiatives and Income Inequality

Dyck

Hussey

Lascher

2019

PaG

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Some have argued that the ballot initiative process prevalent in many American states might lower inequality. We contend this is improbable based on what is known about whether expansion of democracy leads to redistribution, the attitudes of citizens, and the characteristics of the initiative process. Nevertheless, the proposition needs testing. We examine three types of evidence. First, we analyze the content and passage of all post-World War II initiatives going to voters in California, a state that makes heavy use of ballot propositions. Second, we model institutional factors influencing differences in inequality at the state-level from 1976–2014 to test the aggregate-level effect of ballot initiatives on income inequality. Third, we use individual level data to evaluate the claim that frequent initiative use makes lower income people happier because it helps to reduce inequality. Our analyses consistently indicate that the ballot initiative process fails to reduce income inequality.

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The Distributional Impact of Greater Responsiveness: Evidence from New York Towns

Cited by 15 publications

References 30 publications

Do Elections Improve Constituency Responsiveness? Evidence from US Cities

Do Elections Improve Constituency Responsiveness? Evidence from US Cities

The Rise (and Fall) of Elected Sheriffs

American State Ballot Initiatives and Income Inequality

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