The Diffusion of Innovations among the American States

Abstract

We are now in the midst of a notable revival of interest in the politics of the American states. During the last decade many studies have been conducted of the social, political and economic determinants of state policy outcomes. Several of these writers have argued that the relative wealth of a state, its degree of industrialization, and other measures of social and economic development are more important in explaining its level of expenditures than such political factors as the form of legislative apportionment, the amount of party competition, or the degree of voter participation. It has been claimed that such factors as the level of personal income or the size of the urban population are responsible both for the degree of participation and party competition in a state, and the nature of the system's policy outputs. By making this argument these writers have called into question the concepts of representation and theories of party and group conflict which, in one form or another, are the foundations for much of American political science.There is a growing awareness, however, that levels of expenditure alone are not an adequate measure of public policy outcomes. Sharkansky has shown, for example, that levels of expenditure and levels of actual service are seldom correlated; presumably, some states are able to reach given service levels with much less expenditure than others. Besides establishing the appropriate level of expenditure for a program, policy makers must also decide about the program's relative scope, provisions for appeal from administrative orders, eligibility requirements, the composition of regulatory boards and commissions, and many other matters which have little to do with money.

What affects government planning for climate change adaptation: Evidence from the U.S. states

“…State-level climate policy has traditionally focused on GHG mitigation (Wheeler, 2008), and adaptation planning is a relatively new concept for government. By considering adaptation planning as a policy innovation (i.e., the first-time adoption of a policy), we develop a conceptual framework to explain the development of adaptation plans based on the policy innovation theory (Berry & Berry, 1990, 2007Walker, 1969). Inspired by the literature on organizational innovation (Mohr, 1969), the policy innovation model posits three sets of factors as the internal determinants of a government's adoption of new policies, which include the motivation to address a policy issue, obstacles to policy changes, and the availability of resources to overcome obstacles.…”

“…The policy diffusion theory suggests that governments do not make policy decisions in isolation but rather emulate each other in terms of adopting new policies, which makes other states' policy decision an external factor in policy innovation (Walker, 1969). Berry and Berry (2007) posit that interstate policy diffusion often occurs for one of the three reasons: (a) states learn from one another; (b) states compete with each other; and (c) states adopt the same policy to conform to certain norms or standards.…”

Evolving structure of governments: Portfolio adoption across the Canadian provinces from 1867–2012

“…Figure 1 compares rates of portfolio adoption in the Confederation, Expansion and Modern eras across our three categories of portfolios. In Table 3: Common Portfolios in Modern Era (1949-present) FED NF NS PEI NB QC ON MB SK AB BC 1949186718731867186718671870190519051871Defining Aboriginal Affairs 186720001971N/A 1999198619911999196919751979 CON LIB LIB CON LIB NDP NDP LIB CON SC Intergovernmental 19771975200119931992196119741999197919711988 LIB CON CON LIB LIB LIB CON NDP NDP CON SC Physical Resources Environment 1971Environment 1973Environment 1973Environment 1975Environment 1972Environment 1979Environment 1972Environment 1978Environment 1972Environment 1971Environment 1975 LIB CON LIB LIB CON PQ CON CON NDP CON SC Science /Tech 1971/Tech 1992/Tech 1987/Tech 1998/Tech 1985/Tech 1982/Tech 1985...…”

State Political Culture and Sentence Severity in Federal District Courts

“…Innovation Score. This longitudinal measure is based on the readiness with which states have been willing to accept new programs which ultimately have been adopted by the majority of the states (Walker, 1969).…”