Contagious agendas : the spread of issue attention in the policy process

dc.contributor.advisorJones, Bryan D.en
dc.contributor.committeeMemberBaumgartner, Frank Ren
dc.contributor.committeeMemberWlezien, Chrisen
dc.contributor.committeeMemberRoberts, Brian Een
dc.contributor.committeeMemberTheriault, Sean Men
dc.creatorThomas, Herschel Fred IIIen
dc.date.accessioned2015-09-29T19:03:20Zen
dc.date.available2015-09-29T19:03:20Zen
dc.date.issued2015-08en
dc.date.submittedAugust 2015en
dc.date.updated2015-09-29T19:03:21Zen
dc.descriptiontexten
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation is a study of contagion effects in policymaking. The policy process behaves in many ways like a complex system, which is characterized by communication among actors, dynamic interaction, and evolution in behavior over time. As a result, the attention of policy elites rapidly jumps from issue to issue as they struggle to address an array of pressing issues and problems simultaneously. I argue that a process of issue contagion explains these rapid changes as policy elites are highly interdependent actors who are subject to cognitive limits, have incentives to closely monitor the political environment, and frequently mimic the behavior of their peers. Drawing on the methods of computational social science, I build a simulation model of agenda-setting behavior and examine issue contagion through an experimental research design. I test the empirical implications of the model by applying it to real-world datasets—from the disclosed lobbying activity of organized interests to the bill introductions of members of Congress. The core contribution of the project is that patterns in attention to policy issues are a function of a contagion process generated by cue-taking behavior among elites.en
dc.description.departmentGovernmenten
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifierdoi:10.15781/T2R591en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2152/31452en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.subjectAgenda-settingen
dc.subjectContagionen
dc.subjectCue-takingen
dc.subjectPolicy processen
dc.titleContagious agendas : the spread of issue attention in the policy processen
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.departmentGovernmenten
thesis.degree.disciplineGovernmenten
thesis.degree.grantorThe University of Texas at Austinen
thesis.degree.levelDoctoralen
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophyen

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