Title: Estimating Proposal and Status Quo Locations Using Voting and Cosponsorship Data Authors: Michael Peress Entrydate: 2008-07-04 00:19:35 Keywords: Ideal Point Estimation, Cosponsorship, Status Quo, Theories of Lawmaking Abstract: Theories of lawmaking generate predictions for the policy outcome as a function of the status quo. These theories are difficult to test because existing ideal point estimation techniques do not recover the locations of proposals or status quos. Instead, such techniques only recover cutpoints. This limitation has meant that existing tests of theories of lawmaking have been indirect in nature. I propose a method of directly measuring ideal points, proposal locations, and status quo locations on the same multidimensional scale, by employing a combination of voting data, bill and amendment cosponsorship data, and the congressional record. My approach works as follows. First, we can identify the locations of legislative proposals (bills and amendments) on the same scale as voter ideal points by jointly scaling voting and cosponsorship data. Next, we can identify the location of the final form of the bill using the location of last successful amendment (which we already know). If the bill was not amended, then the final form is simply the original bill location. Finally, we can identify the status quo point by employing the cutpoint we get form scaling the final passage vote. To implement this procedure, I automatically coded data on the congressional record available from www.thomas.gov. I apply this approach to recent sessions of the U.S. Senate, and use it to test the implications of competing theories of lawmaking. http://polmeth.wustl.edu/retrieve.php?id=776 ********************************************************** Political Methodology E-Mail List Editors: Melanie Goodrich, <[log in to unmask]> Delia Bailey, <[log in to unmask]> ********************************************************** Send messages to [log in to unmask] To join the list, cancel your subscription, or modify your subscription settings visit: http://polmeth.wustl.edu/polmeth.php **********************************************************