Decomposing the Sources of Incumbency Advantage in the U. S. House
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7329499 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Steven D Levitt, Catherine D Wolfram, Catherine Wolfram (0000-0002-8588-7354) |
| Year | 1997 |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 45-45 |
| Publication date | 1997-02-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Legislative Studies Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0362-9805 • E-ISSN: 1939-9162 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.2307/440290 |
| OpenAlex | W2330381536 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 147 |
| References cited | 14 |
This paper develops a model of incumbency advantage that takes into account candidate quality, and then estimates the parameters of that model using panel data on the U.S. House from 1948 to 1990. Our approach allows us to go beyond the previous literature, which has focused primarily on measurement of incumbency advantage, to a decomposition of its sources. The primary explanation for the rising incumbency advantage appears to be the increasing ability of incumbents to deter high-quality challengers. In contrast, direct officeholder benefits (e.g., franking privileges, media exposure, fund-raising advantages, etc.) have been relatively stable over time and now account for less than half of the overall incumbency advantage
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| Unique citing works | 147 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 5,65 |
| Citation span | 2000 - 2026 (27) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 147 |