Committee bias in legislatures with a high degree of party cohesion

Evidence from Danish municipalities

Bibliographic Data

ID6258129
AuthorsMartin Baekgaard (0000-0001-6683-396X, Aarhus University, corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume50
Issue3
Pages315-335
Publication date2011-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Political Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0304-4130 • E-ISSN: 1475-6765
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1475-6765.2010.01927.x
OpenAlexW2104479871
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited30

The institution of committees in democratic legislatures has for years been said to bias policy making because the preferences of committee members differ from, and are more alike than, those of other legislators due to self-selection to the committees. Based on an analysis of United States Senate committees, Hall and Grofman suggested in 1990 that the preferences of committee members primarily diverge from, and are more alike than, those of non-committee members on policy issues that are salient to constituencies or at least to an easily definable segment of constituencies. This article argues that the logic of Hall and Grofman should in fact be reversed in legislatures characterised by highly cohesive parties. Accordingly, the main hypothesis is that in such legislatures the preferences of committee members are more likely to be alike than those of non-committee members in the committees that work with policy issues of less salience to constituencies. Using a large-scale comparative design comprising data collected in 2008 on the spending preferences of 1,348 Danish local politicians, evidence is found supporting this hypothesis. This finding points to the importance of considering the role of parties when assessing committee bias

Cohesion (chemistry · Danish · Legislature · Political science · Salience (neuroscience · Select committee · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Fiscal Policies and Political Economy · Law · Local Government Finance and Decentralization · Psychology · Public Administration

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