Dynamic Representation in the American States, 1960–2012

Abstract

One of the most fundamental assumptions of democratic theory is that the views of citizens should influence government policy decisions. Previous studies have found a strong cross-sectional relationship between public opinion and state policy outputs. But the ultimate metric of responsiveness is the extent to which changes in popular preferences cause changes in public policies. In this paper, we reassess the quality of representation in the American states over the past half century using a large battery of historical evidence and new statistical techniques. We show that changes in the mass public’s policy views are associated with changes in state policy outputs. In addition, we evaluate the influence of institutions, such as direct democracy, term limits, and legislative professionalism. We find that term limits increase responsiveness, but legislative professionalism and direct democracy have no consistent impact on responsiveness. Our findings have large implications for both the study of representation and institutions in the American states.