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The Conditional Effect of Specialized Governance on Public Policy

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  • Megan Mullin

Abstract

What are the policy consequences of creating functionally specialized venues for decision making? This study directly compares special districts with general purpose local governments to evaluate how specialization influences responsiveness and policy choice. Previous theorizing has assumed that specialization should have the same effect across all policy contexts. The findings presented here show instead that its effect is conditional on the status of public problems. Objective conditions related to a policy issue more strongly influence the responsiveness of multipurpose legislatures than that of special districts; thus the institutional effect of functional specialization varies with the severity of the public problem. The result is that governing structure matters most where problems are least severe. The findings demonstrate the importance of considering policy context when analyzing the effects of political institutions.

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  • Megan Mullin, 2008. "The Conditional Effect of Specialized Governance on Public Policy," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(1), pages 125-141, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:amposc:v:52:y:2008:i:1:p:125-141
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-5907.2007.00303.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Marcelin Joanis, 2013. "Sharing the Blame? Local Electoral Accountability and Centralized School Finance in California," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 335-359, November.
    2. Kim, Serena Y., 2020. "Institutional arrangements and airport solar PV," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    3. Parinandi, Srinivas & Hitt, Matthew P., 2018. "How Politics Influences the Energy Pricing Decisions of Elected Public Utilities Commissioners," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 77-87.
    4. Goodman, Christopher B, 2018. "Jurisdictional Overlap & the Size of the Local Public Workforce," SocArXiv jc7yn, Center for Open Science.
    5. Steven G. Craig & James Airola & Manzur Tipu, 2012. "General Purpose or Special District Governance? Technical Efficiency versus Rent Dissipation in Airport Finances," Public Finance Review, , vol. 40(6), pages 712-735, November.
    6. M. Allaire & A. Dinar, 2022. "What Drives Water Utility Selection of Pricing Methods? Evidence from California," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 36(1), pages 153-169, January.
    7. Taedong Lee & Sara Hughes, 2017. "Perceptions of urban climate hazards and their effects on adaptation agendas," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 22(5), pages 761-776, June.
    8. Daniel Benjamin Bailey & Sung‐Wook Kwon & Nathaniel Wright, 2023. "Pay to protect: Examining the factors of the use of market‐based instruments for local water sustainability," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 40(2), pages 207-229, March.
    9. David Switzer, 2020. "The Context of Responsiveness: Resident Preferences, Water Scarcity, and Municipal Conservation Policy," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 37(2), pages 260-279, March.
    10. Helmke-Long, Laura & Carley, Sanya & Konisky, David M., 2022. "Municipal government adaptive capacity programs for vulnerable populations during the U.S. energy transition," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).

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