The Seeds of Policy Change: Leveraging Diffusion to Disseminate Policy Innovations

Boehmke, Frederick J.; Matthews, Abigail A.; Desmarais, Bruce A.; Harden, Jeffrey J.

doi:10.1215/03616878-3766728

Cited by 12 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 29 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As with contiguity, we measure the influence of these persistent diffusion ties with a count of adoptions by connected states. Following Boehmke et al (2017), we apply the decay parameter implied by the latent network estimates such that recent adoptions by a state's sources matter more than preceding adoptions.…”

Section: Policy Database and Pooled Event History Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

The Initiative Process and Policy Innovation in the American States

LaCombe

Boehmke

2021

State Politics Policy Q.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We utilize a new policy adoption database with over 500 policies to test whether the initiative process influences the timing of policy adoption. Prior studies have produced both supportive and null findings of the effect of the initiative, but typically examine policies one policy or a single composite score at a time. Theoretical accounts suggest that the initiative process should have heterogeneous effects on policy outcomes depending on the configuration of public and government preferences. By pooling hundreds of policies we are able to estimate the average effect of the initiative process on state policy adoption more systematically while also evaluating variation in its effect. We find via a pooled event history analysis that the initiative tends to increase innovativeness, but that this effect can be cancelled out by signature and distribution requirements. We find that this effect varies substantially across policies and is more consistently positive on average in states more liberal populations. We also find evidence that the initiative process moderates the effect of ideology on policy adoption, while making the adoption of non-ideological policies more likely on average.

show abstract

Section: Policy Database and Pooled Event History Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

The Initiative Process and Policy Innovation in the American States

LaCombe

Boehmke

2021

State Politics Policy Q.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The policy networks that we present in this paper can be analyzed to understand the factors that predict which states (e.g., those with professional legislatures) serve as sources of diffusion for many other states, what predicts the formation of diffusion ties between states (e.g., similar political ideologies), and what factors predict the degree to which states are influenced by many others in policy diffusion networks (e.g., large/diverse population and needs). Policy diffusion networks can also be used for theoretical investigations into the way(s) in which particular policies are likely to spread throughout the states (Boehmke, Rury, Desmarais, & Harden, )…”

Section: Diffusion Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

SPID: A New Database for Inferring Public Policy Innovativeness and Diffusion Networks

Boehmke¹,

Brockway²,

Desmarais³

et al. 2019

Policy Studies Journal

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Despite its rich tradition, there are key limitations to researchers' ability to make generalizable inferences about state policy innovation and diffusion. This paper introduces new data and methods to move from empirical analyses of single policies to the analysis of comprehensive populations of policies and rigorously inferred diffusion networks. We have gathered policy adoption data appropriate for estimating policy innovativeness and tracing diffusion ties in a targeted manner (e.g., by policy domain, time period, or policy type) and extended the development of methods necessary to accurately and efficiently infer those ties. Our state policy innovation and diffusion (SPID) database includes 728 different policies coded by topic area. We provide an overview of this new dataset and illustrate two key uses: (i) static and dynamic innovativeness measures and (ii) latent diffusion networks that capture common pathways of diffusion between states across policies. The scope of the data allows us to compare patterns in both across policy topic areas. We conclude that these new resources will enable researchers to empirically investigate classes of questions that were difficult or impossible to study previously, but whose roots go back to the origins of the political science policy innovation and diffusion literature.

show abstract

“…Policy is defined as formal procedures based on ideologies of a governing body or organization that alters or homogenizes behavior and performance of individuals (Chindarkar et al, 2017;Lomotey et al, 2016). Policy development is the outcome of evaluation prefaced by a response to an event or crisis (Boehmke, Matthews Rury, Desmarais, & Harden, 2017;Gilbert, Ahrweiler, Barbrook-Johnson, Narasimhan, & Wilkinson, 2018). For this analysis, reviewed documents included use-of-force policies that resulted from a consent decree or settlement agreement with the DOJ-both referred to as "Agreement" in their reports.…”

Section: Definition Of Policy Documentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Decade's Tale

Rhodes

Robinson

Archibald

et al. 2020

ASW

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

According to the U.S. Department of Justice (US DOJ, 2016), African Americans have experienced disproportionate instances of police use of excessive force as a result of discriminatory practices and insufficient training. Officers are permitted to use appropriate force in specific situations; however, when force is excessive and deemed unnecessary, it then becomes an issue of concern. The U.S. Department of Justice was invited to investigate police departments that participated in the use of excessive force and a consent decree was developed with those departments to remedy the DOJ's findings. The researchers conducted a consent decree analysis examining government investigations of police practices throughout the U.S. between 2008 and 2018 comprising the following terms: police reform, consent decrees, settlement agreement, investigation reports, use-offorce, and policy to determine how prevalent excessive force was used towards African Americans. Findings indicated that within the decade, 14 cities were investigated, 12 were identified as using excessive force, with nine having their use-of-force policies available, and four municipalities using excessive force against African Americans. Social work values, advocacy, and cultural training were also identified to aid in the decrease of excessive force complaints.

show abstract

The Seeds of Policy Change: Leveraging Diffusion to Disseminate Policy Innovations

Cited by 12 publications

References 29 publications

The Initiative Process and Policy Innovation in the American States

The Initiative Process and Policy Innovation in the American States

SPID: A New Database for Inferring Public Policy Innovativeness and Diffusion Networks

A Decade's Tale

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About