Hostname: page-component-f554764f5-rvxtl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-09T02:53:39.279Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Representation in Municipal Government

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 August 2014

CHRIS TAUSANOVITCH  and
CHRISTOPHER WARSHAW
CHRIS TAUSANOVITCH*
Affiliation:
University of California Los Angeles
CHRISTOPHER WARSHAW*
Affiliation:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
*
Chris Tausanovitch is Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, UCLA (ctausanovitch@ucla.edu)
Christopher Warshaw is Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (cwarshaw@mit.edu)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Municipal governments play a vital role in American democracy, as well as in governments around the world. Despite this, little is known about the degree to which cities are responsive to the views of their citizens. In the past, the unavailability of data on the policy preferences of citizens at the municipal level has limited scholars’ ability to study the responsiveness of municipal government. We overcome this problem by using recent advances in opinion estimation to measure the mean policy conservatism in every U.S. city and town with a population above 20,000 people. Despite the supposition in the literature that municipal politics are non-ideological, we find that the policies enacted by cities across a range of policy areas correspond with the liberal-conservative positions of their citizens on national policy issues. In addition, we consider the influence of institutions, such as the presence of an elected mayor, the popular initiative, partisan elections, term limits, and at-large elections. Our results show that these institutions have little consistent impact on policy responsiveness in municipal government. These results demonstrate a robust role for citizen policy preferences in determining municipal policy outcomes, but cast doubt on the hypothesis that simple institutional reforms enhance responsiveness in municipal governments.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 108 , Issue 3 , August 2014 , pp. 605 - 641
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Achen, Christopher H. 1977. “Measuring Representation: Perils of the Correlation Coefficient.” American Journal of Political Science 21 (4): 805–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Achen, Christopher H. 1978. “Measuring Representation.” American Journal of Political Science 22 (3): 475–510.Google Scholar
Anzia, Sarah F. 2011. “Election Timing and the Electoral Influence of Interest Groups.” Journal of Politics 73 (2): 412–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arceneaux, Kevin. 2005. “Does Federalism Weaken Democratic Representation in the United States?” Publius: The Journal of Federalism 35 (2): 297–311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bailey, Michael A., and Rom, Mark Carl. 2004. “A Wider Race? Interstate Competition across Health and Welfare Programs.” Journal of Politics 66 (2): 326–47.Google Scholar
Berman, David R. 2003. Local Government and the States: Autonomy, Politics, and Policy. Armonk, N. Y.: ME Sharpe Incorporated.Google Scholar
Bullock, Charles S., and MacManus, Susan A.. 1993. “Testing Assumptions of the Totality-of-the-Circumstances Test An Analysis of the Impact of Structures on Black Descriptive Representation.” American Politics Research 21 (3): 290–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caldarone, Richard P., Canes-Wrone, Brandice, and Clark, Tom S.. 2009. “Partisan Labels and Democratic Accountability: An Analysis of State Supreme Court Abortion Decisions.” The Journal of Politics 71 (02): 560–73.Google Scholar
Canes-Wrone, Brandice, Brady, David W, and Cogan, John F. 2002. “Out of Step, Out of Office: Electoral Accountability and House Members' Voting.” American Political Science Review 96 (1): 127–40.Google Scholar
Carey, John M., Niemi, Richard G., and Powell, Lynda W.. 2000. Term Limits in State Legislatures. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Carey, John M., Niemi, Richard G., Powell, Lynda W., and Moncrief, Gary F.. 2006. “The Effects of Term Limits on State Legislatures: A New Survey of the 50 States.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 31 (1): 105–34.Google Scholar
Choi, Sang Ok, Bae, Sang-Seok, Kwon, Sung-Wook, and Feiock, Richard. 2010. “County Limits Policy Types and Expenditure Priorities.” The American Review of Public Administration 40 (1): 29–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clinton, Joshua, Jackman, Simon, and Rivers, Douglas. 2004. “The Statistical Analysis of Roll Call Data.” American Political Science Review 98 (2): 355–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craw, Michael. 2006. “Overcoming City Limits: Vertical and Horizontal Models of Local Redistributive Policy Making.” Social Science Quarterly 87 (2): 361–79.Google Scholar
Craw, Michael. 2010. “Deciding to Provide: Local Decisions on Providing Social Welfare.” American Journal of Political Science 54 (4): 906–20.Google Scholar
Davidson, Chandler, and Grofman, Bernard. 1994. Quiet revolution in the South: The impact of the Voting Rights Act, 1965–1990. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Downs, Anthony. 1957. An Economic Theory of Democracy. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Erikson, Robert S., and Wright, Gerald C. Jr. 1980. “Policy Representation of Constituency Interests.” Political Behavior 2 (1): 91–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erikson, Robert S., Wright, Gerald C., and McIver, John P.. 1993. Statehouse Democracy: Public Opinion and Policy in the American States. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gerber, Elisabeth R. 1999. The Populist Paradox: Interest Group Influence and the Promise of Direct Legislation. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Gerber, Elisabeth R., and Hopkins, Daniel J.. 2011. “When Mayors Matter: Estimating the Impact of Mayoral Partisanship on City Policy.” American Journal of Political Science 55 (2): 326–39.Google Scholar
Hainmueller, Jens. 2012. “Entropy Balancing for Causal Effects: A Multivariate Reweighting Method to Produce Balanced Samples in Observational Studies.” Political Analysis 20 (1): 25–46.Google Scholar
Hajnal, Zoltan L., and Trounstine, Jessica. 2010. “Who or What Governs?: The Effects of Economics, Politics, Institutions, and Needs on Local Spending.” American Politics Research 38 (6): 1130–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, Susan Blackall. 1975. “Participation, Political Structure, and Concurrence.” The American Political Science Review 69 (4): 1181–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harvard Election Data Archive . 2012. http://projects.iq.harvard.edu/eda/home.Google Scholar
Ho, Daniel E., Imai, Kosuke, King, Gary, and Stuart, Elizabeth A.. 2007. “Matching as Nonparametric Preprocessing for Reducing Model Dependence in Parametric Causal Inference.” Political Analysis 15 (3): 199–236.Google Scholar
Hofstadter, Richard. 1956. The Age of Reform: From Bryan to FDR. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.Google Scholar
Howell, Susan E., and Perry, Huey L.. 2004. “Black Mayors/White Mayors: Explaining their Approval.” Public Opinion Quarterly 68 (1): 32–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iacus, Stefano M., King, Gary, and Porro, Giuseppe. 2012. “Causal Inference without Balance Checking: Coarsened Exact Matching.” Political Analysis 20 (1): 1–24.Google Scholar
Kernell, Georgia. 2009. “Giving Order to Districts: Estimating Voter Distributions with National Election Returns.” Political Analysis 17 (3): 215–35.Google Scholar
Kousser, Thad. 2005. Term Limits and the Dismantling of State Legislative Professionalism. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kousser, Thad, Lewis, Jeffrey B., and Masket, Seth E.. 2007. “Ideological Adaptation? The Survival Instinct of Threatened Legislators.” Journal of Politics 69 (3): 828–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ladd, Helen F., and Yinger, John. 1989. America’s Ailing Cities: Fiscal Health and the Design of Urban Policy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lax, Jeffrey R., and Phillips, Justin H.. 2009. “How Should We Estimate Public Opinion in The States?” American Journal of Political Science 53 (1): 107–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lax, Jeffrey R., and Phillips, Justin H.. 2012. “The Democratic Deficit in the States.” American Journal of Political Science 56 (1): 148–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leigh, Andrew. 2008. “Estimating the Impact of Gubernatorial Partisanship on Policy Settings and Economic Outcomes: A Regression Discontinuity Approach.” European Journal of Political Economy 24 (1): 256–68.Google Scholar
Levendusky, Matthew S, Pope, Jeremy C., , De, and Jackman, Simon D.. 2008. “Measuring District-Level Partisanship with Implications for the Analysis of US Elections.” Journal of Politics 70 (3): 736–53.Google Scholar
Lubell, Mark, Feiock, Richard C., La Cruz, De, and Ramirez, Edgar E.. 2009. “Local Institutions and the Politics of Urban Growth.” American Journal of Political Science 53 (3): 649–65.Google Scholar
Matsusaka, John G. 2001. “Problems with a Methodology used to Evaluate the Voter Initiative.” The Journal of Politics 63 (04): 1250–6.Google Scholar
Matsusaka, John G. 2010. “Popular Control of Public Policy: A Quantitative Approach.” Quarterly Journal of Political Science 5 (2): 133–67.Google Scholar
Mayhew, David. 1974. The Electoral Connection. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
McCabe, Barbara Coyle, and Feiock, Richard C.. 2005. “Nested Levels of Institutions State Rules and City Property Taxes.” Urban Affairs Review 40 (5): 634–54.Google Scholar
Moncrief, Gary, Powell, L., and Story, T.. 2007. “Term Limits and the Composition of State Legislatures.” In Institutional Change in American Politics: The Case of Term Limits eds. Niemi, R., Cain, B. and Kurtz, K.. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Morgan, David R., and Watson, Sheilah S.. 1995. “The Effects of Mayoral Power on Urban Fiscal Policy.” Policy Studies Journal 23 (2): 231–43.Google Scholar
Murphy, Russell D. 2002. “Politics, Political Science, and Urban Governance: A Literature and a Legacy.” Annual Review of Political Science 5 (1): 63–85.Google Scholar
National Municipal League, Committee on Revision of the Model City Charter. 1916. “A Model City Charter and Municipal Home Rule.” National Municipal League.Google Scholar
Newman, Katherine S., and O’Brien, Rourke L.. 2011. Taxing the Poor: Doing Damage to the Truly Disadvantaged. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Nivola, Pietro S. 2002. Tense Commandments: Federal Prescriptions and City Problems. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Oliver, J. Eric, Ha, Shang E., and Callen, Zachary. 2012. Local Elections and the Politics of Small-scale Democracy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Palus, Christine Kelleher. 2010. “Responsiveness in American Local Governments.” State and Local Government Review 42 (2): 133–50.Google Scholar
Park, David K., Gelman, Andrew, and Bafumi, Joseph. 2004. “Bayesian Multilevel Estimation with Poststratification: State-Level Estimates from National Polls.” Political Analysis 12 (4): 375–85.Google Scholar
Peterson, Paul E. 1981. City Limits. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Peterson, Paul E. 1995. The Price of Federalism. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Rae, Douglas W. 2003. City: Urbanism and its End. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Ruhil, Anirudh VS. 2003. “Structural Change and Fiscal Flows A Framework for Analyzing the Effects of Urban Events.” Urban Affairs Review 38 (3): 396–416.Google Scholar
Schaffner, Brian, Streb, Matthew, and Wright, Gerald. 2001. “Teams Without Uniforms: The Nonpartisan Ballot in State and Local Elections.” Political Research Quarterly 54 (1): 7–30.Google Scholar
Schiesl, Martin J. 1977. The Politics of Efficiency: Municipal Administration and Reform in America, 1880–1920. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Self, Robert O. 2003. American Babylon: Race and the Struggle for Postwar Oakland. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Sharp, Elaine B. 1997. “A Comparative Anatomy of Urban Social Conflict.” Political Research Quarterly 50 (2): 261–80.Google Scholar
Stein, Robert M. 1990. Urban Alternatives: Public and Private Markets in the Provision of Local Services. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.Google Scholar
Stein, Robert, Ulbig, Stacy, and Post, Stephanie Shirley. 2005. “Voting for Minority Candidates in Multiracial/Multiethnic Communities.” Urban Affairs Review 41 (2): 157–81.Google Scholar
Stimson, James A., MacKuen, Michael B., and Erikson, Robert S.. 1995. “Dynamic Representation.” American Political Science Review 89 (3): 543–65.Google Scholar
Svara, James H. 1990. Official Leadership in the City: Patterns of Conflict and Cooperation. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Tausanovitch, Chris, and Warshaw, Christopher. 2013. “Measuring Constituent Policy Preferences in Congress, State Legislatures and Cities.” Journal of Politics 75 (2): 330–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tiebout, Charles M. 1956. “A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures.” The Journal of Political Economy 64 (5): 416–24.Google Scholar
Tolbert, Caroline J. 1998. “Changing the Rules for State Legislatures: Direct Democracy and Governance Policy.” In Citizens as Legislators: Direct Democracy in the United States. eds. Bowler, S., Donovan, T., and Tolbert, C. J.. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press.Google Scholar
Trebbi, Francesco, Aghion, Philippe, and Alesina, Alberto. 2008. “Electoral Rules and Minority Representation in US Cities.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 123 (1): 325–57.Google Scholar
Trounstine, Jessica. 2008. Political Monopolies in American Cities. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Trounstine, Jessica. 2010. “Representation and Accountability in Cities.” Annual Review of Political Science 13: 407–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trounstine, Jessica, and Valdini, Melody E.. 2008. “The Context Matters: The Effects of Single-Member versus At-Large Districts on City Council Diversity.” American Journal of Political Science 52 (3): 554–69.Google Scholar
U.S. Census Bureau. 2012. “U.S. Census of Governments” https://www.census.gov/govs/cog2012/.Google Scholar
Warshaw, Christopher, and Rodden, Jonathan. 2012. “How Should We Measure District-Level Public Opinion on Individual Issues?” Journal of Politics 74 (1): 203–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welch, Susan. 1990. “The Impact of At-Large Elections on the Representation of Blacks and Hispanics.” Journal of Politics 52 (4): 1050–76.Google Scholar
Wolman, Harold, Strate, John, and Melchior, Alan. 1996. “Does Changing Mayors Matter?” Journal of Politics 58 (1): 201–23.Google Scholar
Zodrow, George R. 2001. “The Property Tax as a Capital Tax: A Room with Three Views.” National Tax Journal 51 (4): 139–56.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.