Title:      Cosponsorship in the U.S. Senate: A Multilevel
Approach to Detecting Subtle Social Predictors of Legilslative
Support

Authors:    Justin Gross

Entrydate:  2008-09-14 15:41:27

Keywords:   Congress, cosponsorship, social network analysis,
multilevel models, mixed effects, GLMM

Abstract:   Why do members of Congress choose to cosponsor
legislation proposed by their colleagues and what can we learn
from their patterns of cosponsorship? To answer these questions
properly requires models that respect the relational nature of
the relevant data and the resulting interdependence among
observations. We show how the inclusion of carefully selected
random effects can capture network-type dependence, allowing us
to more confidently investigate senators' propensity to support
colleagues' proposals. To illustrate, we examine whether certain
social factors such as demographic similarities, opportunities
for interaction, and institutional roles are associated with
varying odds of cosponsorship during the 2003-04 (108th) Senate.

http://polmeth.wustl.edu/retrieve.php?id=831

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