Lawmaker Age, Issue Salience, and Senior Representation in Congress

Abstract

Political scientists have demonstrated the importance of lawmakers’ identities, showing that race, gender, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation affect legislative and representational behavior. Is the same true for age? We argue it is, but the effect is conditioned by the salience of different “senior issues.” Analyzing the bill introductions by members of Congress during the 109th and 110th Congresses, we show that older lawmakers are more likely to introduce legislation addressing lower salience senior issues than their younger colleagues. In contrast, sizeable senior constituencies in a district influence lawmaker attention to higher salience senior issues, regardless of a lawmaker’s age. These findings have implications for our understanding of senior power and personal roots of representation in the United States.

Gerontocracy in a comparative perspective: Explaining why political leaders are (almost always) older than their constituents

“…McClean (2019) shows that old mayors tend to spend more on elderly welfare than on child welfare compared with younger ones. Likewise, Curry and Haydon (2018) show that older lawmakers in the US Congress are more likely to introduce legislation addressing lower salience senior issues than their younger colleagues.…”

Does the age of legislators matter to their representational behavior? Evidence from Hong Kong

“…Specifically, are young legislators more likely to promote the interests of youth whereas elderly legislators are more likely to represent elderly interests? McClean (2019) and Curry and Haydon (2018) are the pioneers in this area of research.…”

“…Based on the study of bills introduced by members of the US Congress, Curry and Haydon (2018) examine the impact of legislators' age on their likelihood to represent senior interests. Curry and Haydon suggest that older legislators may share the values and ideologies of senior citizens because of their similar ages and life experiences.…”

“…Based on the insights derived from the literature review, this study makes the following hypothesis. As youth themselves, young legislators may share the values, ideologies, and concerns faced by youth (Curry and Haydon, 2018; McClean, 2019). Moreover, as McClean (2019) argues, young politicians may have longer time horizons and more dependent on the votes of young people.…”

“…Although research like that of Curry and Haydon (2018) shows that the age composition of voters in the electoral district significantly affects legislators' representational behavior, the variable ‘age composition of constituents’ is not applicable to functional constituency legislators in Hong Kong. This is because the majority of functional constituencies adopt a corporate voting method under which only companies and unions are eligible to vote.…”