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Legislative Organization

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  • Keith Krehbiel

Abstract

With an emphasis on the U.S. Congress, this essay addresses political economy approaches to the study of legislative organization. Simple models provide a foundation for more sophisticated studies of one of two problems: how coalitions of intense minorities pass policies that reflect gains from trade (efficiency in distributive policies) and how the legislature obtains gains from specialization (efficiency in information acquisition and dissemination). The recurring impediment to solutions to these problems is that legislatures are self-organizing and, therefore, have difficulty in committing to potentially effective institutional solutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Keith Krehbiel, 2004. "Legislative Organization," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(1), pages 113-128, Winter.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:18:y:2004:i:1:p:113-128
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/089533004773563467
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    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/089533004773563467
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Anders Gustafsson, 2019. "Busy doing nothing: why politicians implement inefficient policies," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 282-299, September.
    2. Thomas Jensen & Thomas Winzen, 2012. "Legislative negotiations in the European Parliament," European Union Politics, , vol. 13(1), pages 118-149, March.
    3. Mehdi Ayouni & Franck Bien & Thomas Lanzi, 2023. "The failure of the delegation principle in a principal-agent model with transfers," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 43(1), pages 518-525.
    4. Mehdi Ayouni & Franck Bien & Thomas Lanzi, 2022. "The failure of the delegation principle in a principal-agent model with transfers," Working Papers of BETA 2022-14, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    5. Thomas Fujiwara & Carlos Sanz, 2017. "Norms in bargaining: evidence from government formation in Spain," Working Papers 1741, Banco de España.
    6. Jaehoon Kim & Lawrence S. Rothenberg, 2008. "Foundations of Legislative Organization and Committee Influence," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 20(3), pages 339-374, July.
    7. Nikoleta Yordanova, 2009. "The Rationale behind Committee Assignment in the European Parliament," European Union Politics, , vol. 10(2), pages 253-280, June.
    8. Ban, Radu & Jha, Saumitra & Rao, Vijayendra, 2012. "Who has voice in a deliberative democracy? Evidence from transcripts of village parliaments in south India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 428-438.
    9. Mattias K. Polborn & Gerald Willmann, 2009. "Optimal agenda-setter timing," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 42(4), pages 1527-1546, November.
    10. Brandsma, Gijs Jan, 2013. "Bending the rules: Arrangements for sharing technical and political information between the EU institutions," European Integration online Papers (EIoP), European Community Studies Association Austria (ECSA-A), vol. 17, July.
    11. Lynch Catherine & O’Malley Eoin & Suiter Jane & Reidy Theresa & Farrell David M., 2017. "Dáil reforms since 2011: Pathway to power for the ‘puny’ parliament?," Administration, Sciendo, vol. 65(2), pages 37-57, May.
    12. Fang-Yi Chiou, 2011. "The role of procedural commitment in informational theories of legislative organization," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 23(4), pages 532-558, October.

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