The Shapley-Owen power index is reviewed and an algorithm for its computation in two-dimensional spatial voting models is presented. The Shapley-Owen values for ideal point distributions representing the UN Security Council, Bretton Woods institutions, US legislators, as well as Monte Carlo data are considered

In order to contest elections in Pakistan in 2002, all candidates for the lower House of Parliament had to have graduated with a Bachelors degree or higher. This unique policy experiment disquali…ed 60 of the 207 legislators elected in the 1997 election, allowing us to identify the causal e¤ect of legislator education on policy outcomes for the …rst time; the outcome we study is their developme...

The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 exemplifies high-stakes legislation that attracted the interest of the public, legislators, academics, policy advocates, and executive agencies. This paper explores how these actors combined to generate intellectual support for this act within the legislative process. Limitations of the contemporaneous research required that the available evidence b...

©2002 by the Midwest Political Science Association A lthough theories about legislative politics continue to proliferate, their range of empirical application is all too often limited, generally encompassing only the U.S. Congress or even just the House. Here, we conduct what is essentially comparative research by testing theories of parties and committees in a number of state legislatures. Thi...

This paper will address the current pandemic threat from avian and other influenza viruses, the treatments available, federal, state and local response and planning, and the policy implications should a pandemic occur. The paper concludes with some discussion about where we are and where we need to go, and some recommendations for policymakers and legislators grappling with the issue of pandemi...

This essay on the polymerase chain reaction is one of a series developed as part of FASEB's efforts to educate the general public, and the legislators whom it elects, about the benefits of fundamental biomedical research-particularly how investment in such research leads to scientific progress, improved health, and economic well-being.