Ideology Versus Partisanship: Regulatory Behavior and Cyclical Political Influence
11 Pages Posted: 5 Jul 2006
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Ideology Versus Partisanship: Regulatory Behavior and Cyclical Political Influence
Ideology Versus Partisanship: Regulatory Behavior and Cyclical Political Influence
Date Written: July 3, 2006
Abstract
We employ a unique data set of 41,137 commissioner votes in 8,252 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decisions and orders, reflecting every voted commission decision from 1976-2003, in order to examine those factors that determined commissioner voting at the FCC. We discover a cyclical relationship between commissioner party-line voting and the presidential election. We hypothesize a partisanship effect, tied to the presidential election cycle, which works separately from commissioners' ideological preferences.
Keywords: Administrative Law, Independent Agencies, FCC, Empirical Legal Research
JEL Classification: K29, K40
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation