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Peer Effects in Legislative Voting

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  • Nikolaj Harmon
  • Raymond Fisman
  • Emir Kamenica

Abstract

We exploit seating rules in the European Parliament to identify peer effects in legislative voting. Sitting adjacently leads to a 7 percent reduction in the overall likelihood that two members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from the same party differ in their vote. Peer effects are markedly stronger among pairs of women, MEP pairs from the same country, and in close votes. Using variation in seating across the parliament's two venues (Brussels and Strasbourg), we show that peer effects are persistent: MEPs who have sat together in the past disagree less even when they are not seated adjacently.

Suggested Citation

  • Nikolaj Harmon & Raymond Fisman & Emir Kamenica, 2019. "Peer Effects in Legislative Voting," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(4), pages 156-180, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejapp:v:11:y:2019:i:4:p:156-80
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/app.20180286
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    Cited by:

    1. Chad Brown & Paola Conconi & Aksel Erbahar & Lorenzo Trimarchi, 2020. "Trade Protection Along Supply Chains," Working Papers ECARES 2020-52, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    2. Brice Romuald Gueyap Kounga, 2023. "Nonparametric Regression with Dyadic Data," Papers 2310.12825, arXiv.org.
    3. Nathan Canen & Ko Sugiura, 2022. "Inference in Linear Dyadic Data Models with Network Spillovers," Papers 2203.03497, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2023.
    4. Ximeng Fang & Sven Heuser & Lasse S. Stötzer, 2023. "How In-Person Conversations Shape Political Polarization: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from a Nationwide Initiative," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 270, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    5. Das Chaudhury, Ratul & Leister, C. Matthew & Rai, Birendra, 2023. "Influencing a polarized and connected legislature," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 833-850.
    6. Garro, Haritz, 2020. "The Role of Connections in Congressional Lawmaking," SocArXiv efnrq, Center for Open Science.
    7. Vangerven, Bart & Briskorn, Dirk & Goossens, Dries R. & Spieksma, Frits C.R., 2022. "Parliament seating assignment problems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 296(3), pages 914-926.
    8. Mindock, Maxwell R. & Waddell, Glen R., 2019. "Vote Influence in Group Decision-Making: The Changing Role of Justices' Peers on the Supreme Court," IZA Discussion Papers 12317, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Matthew Lowe & Donghee Jo, 2021. "Legislature Integration and Bipartisanship: A Natural Experiment in Iceland," CESifo Working Paper Series 9452, CESifo.
    10. Name-Correa, Alvaro J. & Yildirim, Huseyin, 2019. "Social pressure, transparency, and voting in committees," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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