Constituency Representation in Congress: The View from Capitol Hill

Half-title......Page 3
Dedication......Page 4
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Contents......Page 7
Acknowledgments......Page 9
1 The Unanswered Question of Legislative Perceptions......Page 13
Two Primary Questions......Page 16
Explaining Legislative Perceptions: The Accessibility Heuristic......Page 17
Explaining Legislative Behavior: The Effects of Perceptions......Page 19
Contributions of the Study......Page 23
Overview of the Book......Page 25
2 A Dyadic Theory of Subconstituency Representation......Page 27
The Folly of the Unitary Constituency......Page 28
The Representation of Disaggregated Districts......Page 31
The Representation of Legislative Office – Subconstituency Dyads......Page 33
Interest-Based Subconstituencies......Page 35
Issue Specificity......Page 36
The Legislative Enterprise......Page 37
Consequences of a Dyadic Theory of Subconstituency Representation......Page 39
3 The Psychology of Constituency Representation......Page 42
Information Processing and Heuristics......Page 44
Heuristics, Information, and Political Science......Page 46
Political Elites and Heuristics......Page 48
An Information-Based Theory of Legislative Perception......Page 52
Determinants of Information Accessibility......Page 54
Conclusion......Page 56
4 Subconstituents Relevant to Health Policy and Natural Resources Policy......Page 58
The Issue Context......Page 59
Health Policy in the 107th Congress......Page 63
The Patients’ Bill of Rights......Page 64
Medicare Regulatory Reform......Page 66
Natural Resources Policy in the 107th Congress......Page 67
Securing America’s Future Energy Act......Page 68
Wetlands Conservation......Page 71
Identifying Subconstituencies......Page 73
Measuring Perceptions......Page 77
Who Legislative Enterprises See in the District......Page 82
Conclusion......Page 86
5 Explaining Legislative Perceptions......Page 88
Information Accessibility......Page 89
Frequency of Information......Page 90
Familiarity of Information......Page 93
Salience of Information......Page 95
Predisposition to Information......Page 97
Alternate Arguments......Page 98
An Empirical Model of Legislative Perceptions......Page 100
Determinants of Legislative Perceptions......Page 102
Support for a Theory of Information of Accessibility......Page 105
Assessing the Alternative Arguments......Page 112
Conclusion......Page 114
6 The Effects of Legislative Perception on Participation......Page 116
Representing Subconstituencies Through Participation......Page 117
Measuring Participation......Page 119
The Effects of Legislative Perception on Participation......Page 121
Perception and Participation: Initial Patterns......Page 122
Alternate Explanations of Legislators’ Decisions to Participate......Page 126
Estimation of Legislators’ Decisions to Participate......Page 129
The Effects of Legislative Perception on the Extent of Legislative Participation......Page 134
Perception and the Extent of Participation: Initial Patterns......Page 135
Estimation of the Extent of Legislators’ Participation......Page 136
Conclusion......Page 141
7 Reassembling the District as a Whole......Page 143
Perceptions of the District as a Whole......Page 144
District Perceptions and Bill Sponsorship......Page 146
The Influence of Complete and Balanced District Perceptions on Bill Sponsorship......Page 150
District Perceptions and Legislative Voting......Page 154
The Influence of Balanced District Perceptions on Voting Behavior......Page 158
Conclusion......Page 161
8 Perception, Reform, and Representation in Congress......Page 163
Summary of Findings......Page 165
Implications for Institutional Design: is 435 the Magic Number?......Page 167
A Dyadic Theory of Subconstituency Representation......Page 172
Mental Access......Page 174
An Active Role for Citizens......Page 175
Returning to Core Questions......Page 176
Appendix A: Sampling......Page 179
Appendix B: Interviews......Page 181
The Structure of the Interviews......Page 183
Interviewing Members of Congress......Page 186
Health Policy......Page 189
Natural Resources Policy......Page 191
Health Policy......Page 193
Measurement of Shared Career Experience......Page 194
Health Policy......Page 195
Natural Resources Policy......Page 196
Measurement of Traditional Partisan Ties......Page 197
Appendix D: Measurement of Legislative Participation......Page 199
Securing America’s Future Energy Act......Page 200
Appendix E: Instrumental Variables Model of Legislative Participation......Page 203
References......Page 205
Index......Page 223