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Distortion magnified: New Labour and the British Johnston, Ron Rossiter, David Charles, Pattie Dorling, Danny Uploaded 07-26-2001 Keywords electoral bias Britain gerrymander Abstract UK election results show not only the characteristic disproportionality associated with plurality systems but also considerable bias in the allocation of seats relative to votes for the two main political parties (Conservative and Labour). Over the period 1950-1997 (the 1950 election was the first using constituencies defined by independent Boundary Commissions) this bias both increased and shifted from favouring the Conservatives to favouring Labour. By 1997, Labour would have won 82 more seats than Conservative with equal vote shares - the largest bias recorded for the period: and then in 2001 the pro-Labour bias increase to 141. This paper explores the reasons for this shift, using a procedure developed by Brookes for measuring and decomposing bias. Labour benefited because of the geography of iots successful campaigns in 1997 and 2001.

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MPs for Sale? Estimating Returns to Office in Post-War British Politics Eggers, Andrew Hainmueller, Jens Uploaded 03-22-2008 Keywords regression discontinuity design RDD matching UK Britain political economy Abstract While the role of money in policymaking is a central question in political economy research, surprisingly little attention has been given to the rents politicians actually derive from politics. We use both matching and a regression discontinuity design to analyze an original dataset on the estates of recently deceased British politicians. We find that serving in Parliament roughly doubled the wealth at death of Conservative MPs but had no discernible effect on the wealth of Labour MPs. We argue that Conservative MPs profited from office in a lax regulatory environment by using their political positions to obtain outside work as directors, consultants, and lobbyists, both while in office and after retirement. Our results are consistent with anecdotal evidence on MPs' outside financial dealings but suggest that the magnitude of Conservatives' financial gains from office was larger than has been appreciated.

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The political consequences of transitions out of marriage in Great Britain Kern, Holger Uploaded 11-20-2007 Keywords causal inference matching Great Britain marriage divorce widowhood turnout Abstract This paper uses British Household Panel Survey data to estimate the effects of divorce and widowhood on political attitudes and political behavior. In contrast to previous research, which mostly relied on cross-sectional data, a matched propensity score analysis does not find any effects of transitions out of marriage on policy preferences, party identification, and vote choice. The results also show that divorce (but not widowhood) substantially reduces electoral participation. Some preliminary evidence suggests that this effect of divorce on turnout is partially attributable to the increased residential mobility that accompanies divorce.