Trial and error?: Reelection concerns and policy experimentation during the US welfare reform

We study the political economy of policy innovations during the U.S. welfare reform in 1996. Specifically, we investigate how reputation concerns among governors influence the decision to experiment with welfare policies. In line with a political agency model, our empirical results suggest that gove...

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Bernecker, Andreas (VerfasserIn) , Boyer, Pierre C. (VerfasserIn) , Gathmann, Christina (VerfasserIn)
Dokumenttyp: Book/Monograph Arbeitspapier
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Bonn IZA 2015
Schriftenreihe:Discussion paper series / Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit 9113
In: Discussion paper series (9113)

Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:Resolving-System, Volltext: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/113986
Verlag, Volltext: http://www.iza.org/de/webcontent/publications/papers/viewAbstract?dp_id=9113
Volltext
Verfasserangaben:Andreas Bernecker; Pierre C. Boyer; Christina Gathmann
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:We study the political economy of policy innovations during the U.S. welfare reform in 1996. Specifically, we investigate how reputation concerns among governors influence the decision to experiment with welfare policies. In line with a political agency model, our empirical results suggest that governors with high reputation among the electorate are less likely to experiment with welfare policies than governors with low reputation. Yet, governors with high reputation who are less concerned about reelection actually experiment more than governors striving for reelection. Overall, our findings imply that reelection concerns may inhibit innovation in the public sector.
Beschreibung:Online Resource
Dokumenttyp:Systemvoraussetzungen: Acrobat Reader.