Committee jurisdiction, congressional behavior and policy outcomes

John de Figueiredo ()

Public Choice, 2013, vol. 154, issue 1, 119-137

Abstract: The literature on congressional committees has largely overlooked the impact of jurisdictional fights on policy proposals and outcomes. This paper develops a theory of how legislators balance the benefits of expanded committee jurisdiction against preferred policy outcomes. It shows why (a) senior members, and junior members in safe seats, are most likely to challenge a committee’s jurisdiction; (b) policy proposals may be initiated off the proposer’s ideal point for jurisdictional gains; (c) policy outcomes will generally be more moderate with jurisdictional fights than without these turf wars. We empirically investigate these results examining proposed Internet intellectual property protection legislation in the 106th Congress. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2013

Keywords: Congress; Committee jurisdiction; Interest groups (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1007/s11127-011-9813-z

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