IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/policy/v56y2023i4d10.1007_s11077-023-09499-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Following neighbors or regional leaders? Unpacking the effect of geographic proximity in local climate policy diffusion

Author

Listed:
  • Brian Y. An

    (Georgia Institute of Technology)

  • Adam Butz

    (California State University, Long Beach)

  • Min-Kyeong Cha

    (Georgia Institute of Technology)

  • Joshua L. Mitchell

    (University of Arkansas)

Abstract

This study examines spatially dynamic diffusion processes of local policy adoption among municipal governments. Using city-level climate action plans (CAPs) adopted in the Southern California region during 2000-2018 as a study frame, our analysis unpacks spatial variations in the effects of geographic neighbors and regional leaders on local policy diffusion processes. We first argue that both factors will spur CAP diffusion among city governments. We then develop a novel hypothesis of a spatial moderating effect between these two influences. Specifically, we theorize that adjacent neighboring diffusion effects will be less prominent in the areas with nearby regional innovators, while neighboring effects will be more prominent in the absence of regional policy leadership. To examine this, we first use traditional event history and logistic regression analyses. We then investigate inter-city diffusion dynamics in greater detail with a novel geographically weighted regression (GWR) method that unravels regional variations in local diffusion effects. Our aggregate analysis finds that both geographic neighbors and regional leaders drive the diffusion of local CAP adoptions. The novel application of GWR further shows marked spatial variations within the region, suggesting that neighboring proximity-driven diffusion effects are muted by the influence of regional leaders. By spatially unpacking the effect of geographic proximity and regional leadership in policy diffusion, this study enhances our understanding of dynamic and varied diffusion processes.

Suggested Citation

  • Brian Y. An & Adam Butz & Min-Kyeong Cha & Joshua L. Mitchell, 2023. "Following neighbors or regional leaders? Unpacking the effect of geographic proximity in local climate policy diffusion," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 56(4), pages 825-868, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:policy:v:56:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1007_s11077-023-09499-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s11077-023-09499-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11077-023-09499-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11077-023-09499-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hyunjung Ji & Mark Patrick Tate, 2021. "Spillover effects of central cities on sustainability efforts in a metropolitan area," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 54(1), pages 95-121, March.
    2. Desmarais, Bruce A. & Harden, Jeffrey J. & Boehmke, Frederick J., 2015. "Persistent Policy Pathways: Inferring Diffusion Networks in the American States," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 109(2), pages 392-406, May.
    3. Tausanovitch, Chris & Warshaw, Christopher, 2014. "Representation in Municipal Government," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 108(3), pages 605-641, August.
    4. C. S. Wong & W. K. Li, 1998. "A note on the corrected Akaike information criterion for threshold autoregressive models," Journal of Time Series Analysis, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(1), pages 113-124, January.
    5. Towns, Ann E., 2012. "Norms and Social Hierarchies: Understanding International Policy Diffusion “From Belowâ€," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 66(2), pages 179-209, April.
    6. Berry, William D. & Baybeck, Brady, 2005. "Using Geographic Information Systems to Study Interstate Competition," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 99(4), pages 505-519, November.
    7. Walker, Jack L., 1969. "The Diffusion of Innovations among the American States," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 63(3), pages 880-899, September.
    8. Zachary Elkins & Beth Simmons, 2005. "On Waves, Clusters, and Diffusion: A Conceptual Framework," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 598(1), pages 33-51, March.
    9. Rebecca Bromley-Trujillo & J. S. Butler & John Poe & Whitney Davis, 2016. "The Spreading of Innovation: State Adoptions of Energy and Climate Change Policy," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 33(5), pages 544-565, September.
    10. Charles R. Shipan & Craig Volden, 2008. "The Mechanisms of Policy Diffusion," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(4), pages 840-857, October.
    11. Gray, Virginia, 1973. "Innovation in the States: A Diffusion Study," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 67(4), pages 1174-1185, December.
    12. Youlang Zhang & Xufeng Zhu, 2019. "Multiple mechanisms of policy diffusion in China," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(4), pages 495-514, April.
    13. Fabrizio Gilardi, 2010. "Who Learns from What in Policy Diffusion Processes?," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(3), pages 650-666, July.
    14. Daniel C. Matisoff, 2008. "The Adoption of State Climate Change Policies and Renewable Portfolio Standards: Regional Diffusion or Internal Determinants?," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 25(6), pages 527-546, December.
    15. A. Stewart Fotheringham & Wenbai Yang & Wei Kang, 2017. "Multiscale Geographically Weighted Regression (MGWR)," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 107(6), pages 1247-1265, November.
    16. Joshua L. Mitchell, 2016. "Examining media markets’ influence on the diffusion of antismoking legislation in US counties," Local Government Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(5), pages 665-688, September.
    17. Shu-hen Chiang, 2018. "Assessing the Merits of the Urban-Led Policy in China: Spread or Backwash Effect?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-14, February.
    18. Anping Chen & Mark D. Partridge, 2013. "When are Cities Engines of Growth in China? Spread and Backwash Effects across the Urban Hierarchy," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(8), pages 1313-1331, September.
    19. Walker, Jack L., 1969. "The Diffusion of Innovations among the American States," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 63(3), pages 880-899, September.
    20. Linda Shi & Eric Chu & Jessica Debats, 2015. "Explaining Progress in Climate Adaptation Planning Across 156 U.S. Municipalities," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 81(3), pages 191-202, July.
    21. Simmons, Beth A. & Elkins, Zachary, 2004. "The Globalization of Liberalization: Policy Diffusion in the International Political Economy," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 98(1), pages 171-189, February.
    22. Charles R. Shipan & Craig Volden, 2006. "Bottom‐Up Federalism: The Diffusion of Antismoking Policies from U.S. Cities to States," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(4), pages 825-843, October.
    23. Butts, Carter T., 2008. "Social Network Analysis with sna," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 24(i06).
    24. Berry, Frances Stokes & Berry, William D., 1990. "State Lottery Adoptions as Policy Innovations: An Event History Analysis," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 84(2), pages 395-415, June.
    25. Monstadt, Jochen & Wolff, Annika, 2015. "Energy transition or incremental change? Green policy agendas and the adaptability of the urban energy regime in Los Angeles," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 213-224.
    26. Kern, Kristine & Eckersley, Peter & Haupt, Wolfgang, 2023. "Diffusion and upscaling of municipal climate mitigation and adaptation strategies in Germany," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 23(1), pages 1-12.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Côme Billard & Anna Creti & Antoine Mandel, 2020. "How Environmental Policies Spread? A Network Approach to Diffusion in the U.S," Working Papers 2020.12, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    2. Saatvika Rai, 2020. "Policy Adoption and Policy Intensity: Emergence of Climate Adaptation Planning in U.S. States," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 37(4), pages 444-463, July.
    3. Derek Glasgow & Shuang Zhao & Saatvika Rai, 2021. "Rethinking Climate Change Leadership: An Analysis of the Ambitiousness of State GHG Targets," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 38(4), pages 398-426, July.
    4. Nico Heiden & Felix Strebel, 2012. "What about non-diffusion? The effect of competitiveness in policy-comparative diffusion research," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 45(4), pages 345-358, December.
    5. Felix Strebel & Thomas Widmer, 2012. "Visibility and facticity in policy diffusion: going beyond the prevailing binarity," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 45(4), pages 385-398, December.
    6. Evan M. Mistur & John Wagner Givens & Daniel C. Matisoff, 2023. "Contagious COVID‐19 policies: Policy diffusion during times of crisis," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 40(1), pages 36-62, January.
    7. Xiaohan Li & Yang Lv & Md Nazirul Islam Sarker & Xun Zeng, 2022. "Assessment of Critical Diffusion Factors of Public–Private Partnership and Social Policy: Evidence from Mainland Prefecture-Level Cities in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-15, February.
    8. Strebel, Felix, 2011. "Inter-governmental institutions as promoters of energy policy diffusion in a federal setting," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 467-476, January.
    9. Fabrizio Gilardi, 2010. "Who Learns from What in Policy Diffusion Processes?," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(3), pages 650-666, July.
    10. Yunxiang Zhang & Shichen Wang, 2021. "How does policy innovation diffuse among Chinese local governments? A qualitative comparative analysis of River Chief Innovation," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(1), pages 34-47, February.
    11. Fadly, Dalia & Fontes, Francisco, 2019. "Geographical proximity and renewable energy diffusion: An empirical approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 422-435.
    12. Fix Michael P. & Mitchell Joshua L., 2017. "Examining the Policy Learning Dynamics of Atypical Policies with an Application to State Preemption of Local Dog Laws," Statistics, Politics and Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 8(2), pages 223-247, December.
    13. Yi, Hongtao & Feiock, Richard C. & Berry, Frances S., 2017. "Overcoming collective action barriers to energy sustainability: A longitudinal study of climate protection accord adoption by local governments," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 339-346.
    14. Charles R. Shipan & Craig Volden, 2008. "The Mechanisms of Policy Diffusion," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(4), pages 840-857, October.
    15. Wuliyasu Bai & Long Zhang & Liang Yan & Xinyi Wang & Zhiqiao Zhou, 2023. "Crop Straw Resource Utilization as Pilot Policy in China: An Event History Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-19, February.
    16. Valente, Thomas W. & Pitts, Stephanie & Wipfli, Heather & Vega Yon, George G., 2019. "Network influences on policy implementation: Evidence from a global health treaty," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 188-197.
    17. Weixing Liu & Hongtao Yi, 2020. "What Affects the Diffusion of New Energy Vehicles Financial Subsidy Policy? Evidence from Chinese Cities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-15, January.
    18. Kaveh Rashidi & Anthony Patt, 2018. "Subsistence over symbolism: the role of transnational municipal networks on cities’ climate policy innovation and adoption," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 507-523, April.
    19. Valente, Thomas W. & Dyal, Stephanie R. & Chu, Kar-Hai & Wipfli, Heather & Fujimoto, Kayo, 2015. "Diffusion of innovations theory applied to global tobacco control treaty ratification," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 89-97.
    20. Marlene Kammerer & Chandreyee Namhata, 2018. "What drives the adoption of climate change mitigation policy? A dynamic network approach to policy diffusion," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 51(4), pages 477-513, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:policy:v:56:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1007_s11077-023-09499-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.