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U.S. State and Local Public Policies in 2006: A New Database

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

Jason Sorens ,
Fait Muedini  and
William P. Ruger
Jason Sorens
Affiliation:
University at Buffalo, SUNY
Fait Muedini
Affiliation:
University at Buffalo, SUNY
William P. Ruger
Affiliation:
Texas State University-San Marcos
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Abstract

This article introduces a new, public database of U.S. state and local public policies, now available at www.statepolicyindex.com. The database covers more than 170 different state or local policies, coded at the state level as of December 31, 2006, in most cases. We use principal components analysis and derive two orthogonal measures of state policy ideology, which we label policy liberalism and policy urbanism. Our policy liberalism measure passes several reliability and validity checks, while policy urbanism is strongly predicted by urbanization rate, percentage of African Americans in the population, and percentage of Christian adherents in the population.

Type
The Practical Researcher
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , Fall 2008 , pp. 309 - 326
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

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