TY  - JOUR
A1  - Bernecker, Andreas
T1  - Divided we reform? Evidence from US welfare policies
JF  - Journal of Public Economics
N2  - Divided government is often thought of as causing legislative deadlock. I investigate the link between divided government and economic reforms using a novel data set on welfare reforms in US states between 1978 and 2010. Panel data regressions show that, under divided government, a US state is around 25% more likely to adopt a welfare reform than under unified government. Several robustness checks confirm this counter-intuitive finding. Case study evidence suggests an explanation based on policy competition between governor, senate, and house.
Y1  - 2016
U6  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2016.08.003
SN  - 0047-2727
VL  - 142
SP  - 24
EP  - 38
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  -