What does it take for Congress to enact good policies? Policy-specific information and roll-call voting in the U.S. Congress

Abstract

In this paper, we study the conditions under which members of Congress incorporate policy-specific information in their voting decisions. To do this, we estimate an empirical model that accounts for uncertainty and private information about the quality of the proposal. We show that seniority and uncompetitive elections lead to higher ideological rigidity, and curtail the role of information in policy-making. These findings provide a rationale in favor of reforms aimed at increasing actual and potential renewal of the membership.