Jonathan Rodden
Biographic Data
| ID | 3628040 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jonathan Rodden |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jonathan |
| FAMILY NAME | Rodden |
| SIGNATURE | RODDEN J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Stanford University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1362 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 14 |
Who Registers? Village Networks, Household Dynamics, and Voter Registration in Rural Uganda
Who registers to vote? Although extensive research has examined the question of who votes, our understanding of the determinants of political participation will be limited until we know who is missing from the voter register. Studying voter registration in lower-income settings is particularly challenging due to data constraints. We link the official voter register with a complete social network census of 16 villages to analyze the correlates of …
Globalization and Fiscal Decentralization
It Takes a Village: Peer Effects and Externalities in Technology Adoption
Do social networks matter for the adoption of new forms of political participation? We develop a formal model showing that the quality of communication that takes place in social networks is central to understanding whether a community will adopt forms of political participation where benefits are uncertain and where there are positive externalities associated with participation. Early adopters may exaggerate benefits, leading others to discount …
Geography, Uncertainty, and Polarization
Using new data on roll-call voting of US state legislators and public opinion in their districts, we explain how ideological polarization of voters within districts can lead to legislative polarization. In so-called “moderate” districts that switch hands between parties, legislative behavior is shaped by the fact that voters are often quite heterogeneous: the ideological distance between Democrats and Republicans within these districts is often g…
The Achilles Heel of Plurality Systems: Geography and Representation in Multiparty Democracies
Building on the unfinished research program of Gudgin and Taylor (1979), we analytically derive the linkage between a party's territorial distribution of support and the basic features of its vote‐seat curve. We then demonstrate the usefulness of the corresponding empirical model with an analysis of elections in postwar Great Britain, focusing in particular on the transformation of the Liberals from a territorially concentrated to a dispersed par…
How Should We Measure District-Level Public Opinion on Individual Issues
Dual accountability and the nationalization of party competition: Evidence from four federations
This paper assesses the extent to which party systems are nationalized in four federations. In doing so, the research addresses two questions. First, is dual accountability operational across decentralized countries, or do sub-national voters turn to national cues as a means to economize in a complex information environment? By bringing a cross-national dataset to bear on this question, we are able to provide insight into where and why dual accou…
The Geographic Distribution of Political Preferences
In order to address classic questions about democratic representation in countries with winner-take-all electoral districts, it is necessary to understand the distribution of political preferences across districts. Recent formal theory literature has contributed new insights into how parties choose platforms in countries with a continuum of heterogeneous districts. Meanwhile, increases in survey sample sizes and advances in empirical techniques h…
Back to the Future: Endogenous Institutions and Comparative Politics
Like a fashion trend traveling from New York to the heartland, soul-searching about causality has made its way from empirical research in economics to that in political science with the usual lag. Gone are the days when it was enough to have a nice theory, a conditional correlation, and some rhetoric about the implausibility of competing explanations while implying but assiduously avoiding the “c” word. Editors, reviewers, and search committees a…
The Strength of Issues: Using Multiple Measures to Gauge Preference Stability, Ideological Constraint, and Issue Voting
A venerable supposition of American survey research is that the vast majority of voters have incoherent and unstable preferences about political issues, which in turn have little impact on vote choice. We demonstrate that these findings are manifestations of measurement error associated with individual survey items. First, we show that averaging a large number of survey items on the same broadly defined issue area-for example, government involvem…
Economic Geography and Economic Voting: Evidence from the US States
If voters use information about the economy to assess the competence of incumbents, a connection between economic conditions and incumbent success should only be discernible in settings where public policy might plausibly affect the economy, and where the assignment of government responsibility is relatively straightforward. Applying this logic to gubernatorial elections in the United States, we test the following hypothesis: the connection betwe…
Purple America
America, we are told, is a nation divided. The cartographers who draw up the maps of U.S. election results have branded a new division in American politics: Republican red versus Democratic blue. What is the source of this division? Most observers point not to the bread-and-butter economic issues of the New Deal alignment but to a "culture war." In this paper, we draw on data from three decades of survey research to see how the electorate divides…
Federalismo e descentralização em perspectiva comparada: Sobre Significados E Medidas
Este artigo revê e redireciona a literatura empírica comparada sobre as causas e conseqüências da descentralização e do federalismo. A "primeira geração" de estudos concebia a descentralização como um jogo de soma zero, de transferência de autoridade do centro para os governos subnacionais; partia das premissas da economia de bem-estar social e da teoria da escolha pública e empregava formas pouco precisas para medir a descentralização do gasto e…
Chapter 4 Globalization and Fiscal Decentralization
Comparative Federalism and Decentralization: On Meaning and Measurement
Política distributiva na Federação: Estratégias Eleitorais, Barganhas Legislativas E Coalizões De Governo
This article discusses and tests different hypotheses about electoral and legislative strategies in Brazil, which is a federation with a strong president, over-representation in both chambers, and members of the legislative branch who are encouraged to seek funds for their constituencies. It examines the geographical distribution of budget and extra-budgetary funds during the period from 1990-2000 and measures the relative importance of captive a…
Fiscal Decentralization and the Challenge of Hard Budget Constraints
A multi-country study of the conditions under which decentralized countries might ensure fiscal discipline. In many parts of the world, lower levels of government are taking over responsibilities from national authorities. This often leads to difficulty in maintaining fiscal discipline. So-called soft budget constraints allow these subnational governments to expand expenditures without facing the full cost. Until now, however, there has been litt…
Reviving Leviathan: Fiscal Federalism and the Growth of Government
This article revisits the influential “Leviathan” hypothesis, which posits that tax competition limits the growth of government spending in decentralized countries. I use panel data to examine the effect of fiscal decentralization over time within countries, attempting to distinguish between decentralization that is funded by intergovernmental transfers and local taxation. First, I explore the logic whereby decentralization should restrict govern…
Beyond the Fiction of Federalism: Macroeconomic Management in Multitiered Systems
Recent research on federalism is extremely divided. While some tout the benefits of “market-preserving” federalism, others point to the fragmentation and incoherence of policy in federal states. This research bridges the divide by analyzing the political andfiscalstructures that are likely to account for the highly divergent economic experiences of federal systems around die world. To test these propositions, the authors use an original data set …
Strength in Numbers: Representation and Redistribution in the European Union
This article examines the relationship between territorial representation and fiscal redistribution in the European Union. Given that small states are vastly overrepresented in both the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers, models of legislative vote-buying predict that overrepresented member states will be systematically favored in the distribution of EU fiscal transfers. Empirical analysis of each manifestation of the EC or EU from …
The Dilemma of Fiscal Federalism: Grants and Fiscal Performance around the World
This paper uses cross-national data to examine the effects of federal fiscal and political institutions on the fiscal performance of subnational governments. Balanced budgets among subnational governments are found when either (1) the center imposes strong borrowing restrictions or (2) subnational governments have both wide-ranging taxing and borrowing autonomy. Large and persistent aggregate deficits occur when subnational governments are simult…
The Strength of Issues: Using Multiple Measures to Gauge Preference Stability, Ideological Constraint, and Issue Voting
A venerable supposition of American survey research is that the vast majority of voters have incoherent and unstable preferences about political issues, which in turn have little impact on vote choice. We demonstrate that these findings are manifestations of measurement error associated with individual survey items. First, we show that averaging a large number of survey items on the same broadly defined issue area-for example, government involvem…
Comparative Federalism and Decentralization: On Meaning and Measurement
Beyond the Fiction of Federalism: Macroeconomic Management in Multitiered Systems
Recent research on federalism is extremely divided. While some tout the benefits of “market-preserving” federalism, others point to the fragmentation and incoherence of policy in federal states. This research bridges the divide by analyzing the political andfiscalstructures that are likely to account for the highly divergent economic experiences of federal systems around die world. To test these propositions, the authors use an original data set …
Reviving Leviathan: Fiscal Federalism and the Growth of Government
This article revisits the influential “Leviathan” hypothesis, which posits that tax competition limits the growth of government spending in decentralized countries. I use panel data to examine the effect of fiscal decentralization over time within countries, attempting to distinguish between decentralization that is funded by intergovernmental transfers and local taxation. First, I explore the logic whereby decentralization should restrict govern…
How Should We Measure District-Level Public Opinion on Individual Issues
The Geographic Distribution of Political Preferences
In order to address classic questions about democratic representation in countries with winner-take-all electoral districts, it is necessary to understand the distribution of political preferences across districts. Recent formal theory literature has contributed new insights into how parties choose platforms in countries with a continuum of heterogeneous districts. Meanwhile, increases in survey sample sizes and advances in empirical techniques h…
The Dilemma of Fiscal Federalism: Grants and Fiscal Performance around the World
This paper uses cross-national data to examine the effects of federal fiscal and political institutions on the fiscal performance of subnational governments. Balanced budgets among subnational governments are found when either (1) the center imposes strong borrowing restrictions or (2) subnational governments have both wide-ranging taxing and borrowing autonomy. Large and persistent aggregate deficits occur when subnational governments are simult…
Economic Geography and Economic Voting: Evidence from the US States
If voters use information about the economy to assess the competence of incumbents, a connection between economic conditions and incumbent success should only be discernible in settings where public policy might plausibly affect the economy, and where the assignment of government responsibility is relatively straightforward. Applying this logic to gubernatorial elections in the United States, we test the following hypothesis: the connection betwe…
Strength in Numbers: Representation and Redistribution in the European Union
This article examines the relationship between territorial representation and fiscal redistribution in the European Union. Given that small states are vastly overrepresented in both the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers, models of legislative vote-buying predict that overrepresented member states will be systematically favored in the distribution of EU fiscal transfers. Empirical analysis of each manifestation of the EC or EU from …
Purple America
America, we are told, is a nation divided. The cartographers who draw up the maps of U.S. election results have branded a new division in American politics: Republican red versus Democratic blue. What is the source of this division? Most observers point not to the bread-and-butter economic issues of the New Deal alignment but to a "culture war." In this paper, we draw on data from three decades of survey research to see how the electorate divides…
Dual accountability and the nationalization of party competition: Evidence from four federations
This paper assesses the extent to which party systems are nationalized in four federations. In doing so, the research addresses two questions. First, is dual accountability operational across decentralized countries, or do sub-national voters turn to national cues as a means to economize in a complex information environment? By bringing a cross-national dataset to bear on this question, we are able to provide insight into where and why dual accou…
The Achilles Heel of Plurality Systems: Geography and Representation in Multiparty Democracies
Building on the unfinished research program of Gudgin and Taylor (1979), we analytically derive the linkage between a party's territorial distribution of support and the basic features of its vote‐seat curve. We then demonstrate the usefulness of the corresponding empirical model with an analysis of elections in postwar Great Britain, focusing in particular on the transformation of the Liberals from a territorially concentrated to a dispersed par…
Política distributiva na Federação: Estratégias Eleitorais, Barganhas Legislativas E Coalizões De Governo
This article discusses and tests different hypotheses about electoral and legislative strategies in Brazil, which is a federation with a strong president, over-representation in both chambers, and members of the legislative branch who are encouraged to seek funds for their constituencies. It examines the geographical distribution of budget and extra-budgetary funds during the period from 1990-2000 and measures the relative importance of captive a…
Federalismo e descentralização em perspectiva comparada: Sobre Significados E Medidas
Este artigo revê e redireciona a literatura empírica comparada sobre as causas e conseqüências da descentralização e do federalismo. A "primeira geração" de estudos concebia a descentralização como um jogo de soma zero, de transferência de autoridade do centro para os governos subnacionais; partia das premissas da economia de bem-estar social e da teoria da escolha pública e empregava formas pouco precisas para medir a descentralização do gasto e…
It Takes a Village: Peer Effects and Externalities in Technology Adoption
Do social networks matter for the adoption of new forms of political participation? We develop a formal model showing that the quality of communication that takes place in social networks is central to understanding whether a community will adopt forms of political participation where benefits are uncertain and where there are positive externalities associated with participation. Early adopters may exaggerate benefits, leading others to discount …
Geography, Uncertainty, and Polarization
Using new data on roll-call voting of US state legislators and public opinion in their districts, we explain how ideological polarization of voters within districts can lead to legislative polarization. In so-called “moderate” districts that switch hands between parties, legislative behavior is shaped by the fact that voters are often quite heterogeneous: the ideological distance between Democrats and Republicans within these districts is often g…
Who Registers? Village Networks, Household Dynamics, and Voter Registration in Rural Uganda
Who registers to vote? Although extensive research has examined the question of who votes, our understanding of the determinants of political participation will be limited until we know who is missing from the voter register. Studying voter registration in lower-income settings is particularly challenging due to data constraints. We link the official voter register with a complete social network census of 16 villages to analyze the correlates of …
Beyond the Fiction of Federalism: Macroeconomic Management in Multitiered Systems
Recent research on federalism is extremely divided. While some tout the benefits of “market-preserving” federalism, others point to the fragmentation and incoherence of policy in federal states. This research bridges the divide by analyzing the political andfiscalstructures that are likely to account for the highly divergent economic experiences of federal systems around die world. To test these propositions, the authors use an original data set …
Strength in Numbers: Representation and Redistribution in the European Union
This article examines the relationship between territorial representation and fiscal redistribution in the European Union. Given that small states are vastly overrepresented in both the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers, models of legislative vote-buying predict that overrepresented member states will be systematically favored in the distribution of EU fiscal transfers. Empirical analysis of each manifestation of the EC or EU from …
The Dilemma of Fiscal Federalism: Grants and Fiscal Performance around the World
This paper uses cross-national data to examine the effects of federal fiscal and political institutions on the fiscal performance of subnational governments. Balanced budgets among subnational governments are found when either (1) the center imposes strong borrowing restrictions or (2) subnational governments have both wide-ranging taxing and borrowing autonomy. Large and persistent aggregate deficits occur when subnational governments are simult…
Fiscal Decentralization and the Challenge of Hard Budget Constraints
A multi-country study of the conditions under which decentralized countries might ensure fiscal discipline. In many parts of the world, lower levels of government are taking over responsibilities from national authorities. This often leads to difficulty in maintaining fiscal discipline. So-called soft budget constraints allow these subnational governments to expand expenditures without facing the full cost. Until now, however, there has been litt…
Reviving Leviathan: Fiscal Federalism and the Growth of Government
This article revisits the influential “Leviathan” hypothesis, which posits that tax competition limits the growth of government spending in decentralized countries. I use panel data to examine the effect of fiscal decentralization over time within countries, attempting to distinguish between decentralization that is funded by intergovernmental transfers and local taxation. First, I explore the logic whereby decentralization should restrict govern…
Chapter 4 Globalization and Fiscal Decentralization
Comparative Federalism and Decentralization: On Meaning and Measurement
Política distributiva na Federação: Estratégias Eleitorais, Barganhas Legislativas E Coalizões De Governo
This article discusses and tests different hypotheses about electoral and legislative strategies in Brazil, which is a federation with a strong president, over-representation in both chambers, and members of the legislative branch who are encouraged to seek funds for their constituencies. It examines the geographical distribution of budget and extra-budgetary funds during the period from 1990-2000 and measures the relative importance of captive a…
Federalismo e descentralização em perspectiva comparada: Sobre Significados E Medidas
Este artigo revê e redireciona a literatura empírica comparada sobre as causas e conseqüências da descentralização e do federalismo. A "primeira geração" de estudos concebia a descentralização como um jogo de soma zero, de transferência de autoridade do centro para os governos subnacionais; partia das premissas da economia de bem-estar social e da teoria da escolha pública e empregava formas pouco precisas para medir a descentralização do gasto e…
Economic Geography and Economic Voting: Evidence from the US States
If voters use information about the economy to assess the competence of incumbents, a connection between economic conditions and incumbent success should only be discernible in settings where public policy might plausibly affect the economy, and where the assignment of government responsibility is relatively straightforward. Applying this logic to gubernatorial elections in the United States, we test the following hypothesis: the connection betwe…
Purple America
America, we are told, is a nation divided. The cartographers who draw up the maps of U.S. election results have branded a new division in American politics: Republican red versus Democratic blue. What is the source of this division? Most observers point not to the bread-and-butter economic issues of the New Deal alignment but to a "culture war." In this paper, we draw on data from three decades of survey research to see how the electorate divides…
The Strength of Issues: Using Multiple Measures to Gauge Preference Stability, Ideological Constraint, and Issue Voting
A venerable supposition of American survey research is that the vast majority of voters have incoherent and unstable preferences about political issues, which in turn have little impact on vote choice. We demonstrate that these findings are manifestations of measurement error associated with individual survey items. First, we show that averaging a large number of survey items on the same broadly defined issue area-for example, government involvem…
Back to the Future: Endogenous Institutions and Comparative Politics
Like a fashion trend traveling from New York to the heartland, soul-searching about causality has made its way from empirical research in economics to that in political science with the usual lag. Gone are the days when it was enough to have a nice theory, a conditional correlation, and some rhetoric about the implausibility of competing explanations while implying but assiduously avoiding the “c” word. Editors, reviewers, and search committees a…
The Geographic Distribution of Political Preferences
In order to address classic questions about democratic representation in countries with winner-take-all electoral districts, it is necessary to understand the distribution of political preferences across districts. Recent formal theory literature has contributed new insights into how parties choose platforms in countries with a continuum of heterogeneous districts. Meanwhile, increases in survey sample sizes and advances in empirical techniques h…
Dual accountability and the nationalization of party competition: Evidence from four federations
This paper assesses the extent to which party systems are nationalized in four federations. In doing so, the research addresses two questions. First, is dual accountability operational across decentralized countries, or do sub-national voters turn to national cues as a means to economize in a complex information environment? By bringing a cross-national dataset to bear on this question, we are able to provide insight into where and why dual accou…
How Should We Measure District-Level Public Opinion on Individual Issues
The Achilles Heel of Plurality Systems: Geography and Representation in Multiparty Democracies
Building on the unfinished research program of Gudgin and Taylor (1979), we analytically derive the linkage between a party's territorial distribution of support and the basic features of its vote‐seat curve. We then demonstrate the usefulness of the corresponding empirical model with an analysis of elections in postwar Great Britain, focusing in particular on the transformation of the Liberals from a territorially concentrated to a dispersed par…
Geography, Uncertainty, and Polarization
Using new data on roll-call voting of US state legislators and public opinion in their districts, we explain how ideological polarization of voters within districts can lead to legislative polarization. In so-called “moderate” districts that switch hands between parties, legislative behavior is shaped by the fact that voters are often quite heterogeneous: the ideological distance between Democrats and Republicans within these districts is often g…
It Takes a Village: Peer Effects and Externalities in Technology Adoption
Do social networks matter for the adoption of new forms of political participation? We develop a formal model showing that the quality of communication that takes place in social networks is central to understanding whether a community will adopt forms of political participation where benefits are uncertain and where there are positive externalities associated with participation. Early adopters may exaggerate benefits, leading others to discount …
Globalization and Fiscal Decentralization
Who Registers? Village Networks, Household Dynamics, and Voter Registration in Rural Uganda
Who registers to vote? Although extensive research has examined the question of who votes, our understanding of the determinants of political participation will be limited until we know who is missing from the voter register. Studying voter registration in lower-income settings is particularly challenging due to data constraints. We link the official voter register with a complete social network census of 16 villages to analyze the correlates of …
Political science (20 works) · Economics (17 works) · Politics (16 works) · Law (11 works) · Local Government Finance and Decentralization (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Electoral Systems and Political Participation (9 works) · Decentralization (8 works) · Market economy (7 works) · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth (6 works)