Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T08:43:22.970Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Coefficient of Party Influence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2017

Keith Krehbiel
Keith Krehbiel*
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-5015, Center for the Study of Democratic Politics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544. e-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In a 2000 article in American Journal of Political Science, James Snyder and Tim Groseclose develop and apply an innovative method for detecting and estimating the frequency and magnitude of party influence in congressional roll call voting. This paper presents a framework for assessing the coefficient that the authors interpret as “party influence.” The analysis reveals that, and shows why, the coefficient manifests two troublesome characteristics. The coefficient cannot discriminate between disparate types of party influence because the mapping between types of partison influence and signs of the coefficient is not one-to-one. Similarly, the coefficient has a responsiveness problem because a marginal increase in one party's influence can cause the estimate of the coefficient to increase, decrease, or remain constant. Because the literature on parties in Congress emphasizes majority-party strength, the inability of the coefficient to isolate party-specific effects is a serious drawback in the ongoing hunt for genuine party discipline.

Type
Replications and Extensions
Information
Political Analysis , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , Winter 2003 , pp. 95 - 103
Copyright
Copyright © Political Methodology Section of the American Political Science Association 2003 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aldrich, John H. 1995. Why Parties? The Origin and Transformation of Party Politics in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Brady, David, and Volden, Craig. 1998. Revolving Gridlock. New York: Westview.Google Scholar
Canes-Wrone, Brandice. 2001. “The President's Legislative Influence from Public Appeals.” American Journal of Political Science 45:313–329.Google Scholar
Cox, Gary W., and McCubbins, Mathew D. 1993. Legislative Leviathan: Party Government in the House. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Diermeier, Daniel, and Feddersen, Timothy J. 1998. “Cohesion in Legislatures and the Vote of Confidence Procedure.” American Political Science Review 92:611–621.Google Scholar
Groseclose, Timothy. 1995. “An Examination of the Market for Favors and Votes in Congress.” Economic Inquiry 33:320–340.Google Scholar
Heckman, James J., and Snyder, James M. Jr. 1997. “Linear Probability Models of the Demand for Attributes with an Empirical Application to Estimating the Preferences of Legislators.” Rand Journal of Economics 28:S142–S189.Google Scholar
Herron, Michael C. 1999. “Artificial Extremism in Interest Group Ratings and the Preferences versus Party Debate.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 24:525–542.Google Scholar
Jenkins, Jeffery A. 1999. “Examining the Bonding Effects of Party: A Comparative Analysis of Roll-Call Voting in the U.S. and Confederate Houses.” American Journal of Political Science 43:1144–1165.Google Scholar
Jenkins, Jeffery A. 2000. “Examining the Robustness of Ideological Voting: Evidence from the Confederate House of Representatives.” American Journal of Political Science 44:811–822.Google Scholar
Krehbiel, Keith. 1998. Pivotal Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Krehbiel, Keith. 1999. “Paradoxes of Party in Congress.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 24:31–64.Google Scholar
Levitt, Steven D, and Snyder, James M. Jr. 1995. “Political Parties and the Distribution of Federal Outlays.” American Journal of Political Science 39:958–980.Google Scholar
McCarty, Nolan, Poole, Keith, and Rosenthal, Howard. 2001. “The Hunt for Party Discipline in Congress.” American Political Science Review 95:673–688.Google Scholar
Nokken, Timothy P. 2000. “Dynamics of Congressional Loyalty: Party Defection and Roll-Call Behavior, 1947-97.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 25:417–444.Google Scholar
Rohde, David W. 1991. Parties and Leaders in the Postreform House. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Steven. 2000. “Positive Theories of Congressional Parties.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 25:193–215.Google Scholar
Snyder, James M. Jr. 1991. “On Buying Legislatures.” Economics and Politics 3:93–109.Google Scholar
Snyder, James M. Jr., and Groseclose, Timothy. 1996. “On Buying Supermajorities.” American Political Science Review 90:303–315.Google Scholar
Snyder, James M. Jr., and Groseclose, Timothy. 2000. “Estimating Party Influence in Congressional Roll-Call Voting.” American Journal of Political Science 44:193–211.Google Scholar
Snyder, James M. Jr., and Groseclose, Timothy. 2001. “Estimating Party Influence on Roll Call Voting: Regression Coefficients vs. Classification Success.” American Political Science Review 95:689–698.Google Scholar
Snyder, James M. Jr., and Ting, Michael. 2002. “An Informational Rationale for Political Parties.” American Journal of Political Science 46:90–110.Google Scholar
Wright, Gerald C., and Schaffner, Brian F. 2002. “The Influence of Party: Evidence from the State Legislatures.” American Political Science Review 96:367–379.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Krehbiel supplementary material

Appendix

Download Krehbiel supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 117.1 KB