Working Paper: NBER ID: w17171
Authors: John M. de Figueiredo
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 young members in safe districts are most likely to challenge a committee's jurisdiction; b) policy proposals may be initiated off the proposer's ideal point in order to obtain jurisdiction; 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.
Keywords: congress; committee jurisdiction; policy outcomes; legislation
JEL Codes: H11
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Jurisdictional conflicts (K19) | more moderate policy outcomes (D72) |
| Jurisdictional challenges (K19) | policy moderation (E63) |
| Behavior of legislators (D72) | likelihood of challenging committee jurisdiction (K41) |
| Senior and young members in safe districts (K16) | likelihood of jurisdictional challenges (K41) |
| Threat of a competing bill (D72) | more moderate stance by incumbent committee (E63) |