Social scientists commonly use computational models to estimate proxies of unobserved
concepts, then incorporate these proxies into subsequent tests of their theories. The …

When Barack Obama won the presidency, many posited that we were entering into a post-
racial period in American politics. Regrettably, the reality hasn't lived up to that expectation …

Why do Republican politicians promise to rein in government, only to face repeated
rebellions from Republican voters and media critics for betraying their principles? Why do …

We are living in an age of conspiracy theories, whether it's enduring, widely held beliefs
such as government involvement in the Kennedy assassination or alien activity at Roswell …

“A short review cannot convey the rich variety of arguments and data Bartels deploys in
making his case…. Bartels shows that social issues do not create as strong a headwind …

Aldrich‐McKelvey scaling is a powerful method that corrects for differential‐item functioning
(DIF) in estimating the positions of political stimuli (eg, parties and candidates) and survey …

Theories of electoral accountability predict that legislators will receive fewer votes if they fail
to represent their districts. To determine whether this prediction applies to state legislators, I …

Congressional debates are increasingly defined by gridlock and stalemate, with partisan
showdowns that lead to government shutdowns. Compromise in Congress seems hard to …

News media play a central role in democratic politics, yet we know little about how media
affect the behavior of policy makers. To understand the conditions under which news media …

Abstract Enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) created a
dilemma for Republican policy makers at the state level. States could maximize control over …