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WORKING PAPER
Cosponsorship Coalitions in the U.S. House of Representatives
Grant, J. TobinPellegrini, Pasquale (Pat) A. Abstract urrent theories and methods for studying of cosponsorship assume that the decision to cosponsor is identical to decision to vote. In this paper we develop a new theory of cosponsorship that identifies where along the ideological spectrum cosponsors of a bill are more likely to be. Moreover, we predict that members with organizational ties to the sponsor are more likely to cosponsor than other members. To test this theory, we employ a spatial duration model. This method has recently been used by geographers to estimate areas that are more likely to experience an "event." Using this technique permits a statistical test that supports our substantive hypotheses that cosponsorship coalitions are shaped by the characteristics of the location of the bill, the shared ties to the sponsor, and the policy area. In addition, more active sponsors are associated with wider and less clustered coalitions. These findings demonstrate that theories of the voting decision are not applicable to cosponsorship. Keywords clustering coalitions cosponsorship duration models hazard models heterogeneity spatial models File
Uploaded 04-22-1998 Document ID Number 287 |
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