Policy Diffusion Dynamics in America [Hardcover]

Policy Diffusion Dynamics in America explores why some policies spread more rapidly across states than others.Policy Diffusion Dynamics in America explores why some policies spread more rapidly across states than others. It demonstrates how variation in the characteristics of policies, the political and institutional traits of states, and differences among interest group carriers interact to produce different patterns of policy diffusion. This work, based on study of the diffusion of more than 130 policy innovations, addresses a range of topics of interest to students of public policy and federalism.Policy Diffusion Dynamics in America explores why some policies spread more rapidly across states than others. It demonstrates how variation in the characteristics of policies, the political and institutional traits of states, and differences among interest group carriers interact to produce different patterns of policy diffusion. This work, based on study of the diffusion of more than 130 policy innovations, addresses a range of topics of interest to students of public policy and federalism.Policy Diffusion Dynamics in America integrates research from agenda setting and epidemiology to model factors that shape the speed and scope of public policy diffusion. Drawing on a data set of more than 130 policy innovations, the research demonstrates that the laboratories of democracy metaphor for incremental policy evaluation and emulation is insufficient to capture the dynamic process of policy diffusion in America. A significant subset of innovations trigger outbreaks  the extremely rapid adoption of innovation across states. The book demonstrates how variation in the characteristics of policies, the political and institutional traits of states, and differences among interest group carriers interact to produce distinct patterns of policy diffusion.1. Contagion in the laboratories of democracy; 2. Incrementalism and policy outbreaks in the American states; 3. Policy agents: lCx