Week
Readings (Choose one per week)
Introduction/Course Overview
Morehouse, Sarah & Malcolm Jewell (2004) “States as Labratories: A Reprise” Annual Review of Political Science 7:177-203.
Federalism
Grimmer, Justin, and Eitan Hersh. "How election rules affect who wins." Journal of Legal Analysis 16, no. 1 (2024): 1-25.
Graham, Erin R., Charles R. Shipan, and Craig Volden. "The diffusion of policy diffusion research in political science." British journal of political science 43, no. 3 (2013): 673-701.
Jacobs, Nicholas F., and B. Kal Munis. "Staying in place: Federalism and the political economy of place attachment." Publius: The Journal of Federalism 50, no. 4 (2020): 544-565.
Grumbach, Jacob M. "Laboratories of democratic backsliding." American Political Science Review 117, no. 3 (2023): 967-984.
Sorting/Housing
Martin, Gregory J., and Steven W. Webster. "Does residential sorting explain geographic polarization?." Political Science Research and Methods 8, no. 2 (2020): 215-231.
Yinger, John. "Measuring racial discrimination with fair housing audits: Caught in the act." The American Economic Review (1986): 881-893
Ferreira, Fernando, Jeanna Kenney, and Benjamin Smith. "Household mobility, networks, and gentrification of minority neighborhoods in the United States." Journal of Labor Economics 42, no. S1 (2024): S61-S94.
Marble, William, and Clayton Nall. "Where self-interest trumps ideology: liberal homeowners and local opposition to housing development." The Journal of Politics 83, no. 4 (2021): 1747-1763.
Elections and Legislators
Anzia, Sarah F. "Election timing and the electoral influence of interest groups." The Journal of Politics 73, no. 2 (2011): 412-427.
Fouirnaies, Alexander, and Andrew B. Hall. "How do electoral incentives affect legislator behavior? Evidence from US state legislatures." American Political Science Review 116, no. 2 (2022): 662-676.
Bucchianeri, Peter, Craig Volden, and Alan E. Wiseman. "Legislative effectiveness in the American states." American Political Science Review 119, no. 1 (2025): 21-39.
Blasingame, Elise, Eric R. Hansen, and Richard C. Witmer. "Are Descriptive Representatives More Successful Passing Group-Relevant Legislation? The Case of Native American State Legislators." Political Research Quarterly 78, no. 1 (2025): 308-322.
Judges
Leonard, Meghan E. "New data on court curbing by state legislatures." State Politics & Policy Quarterly 22, no. 4 (2022): 483-500.
Berdejó, Carlos, and Noam Yuchtman. "Crime, punishment, and politics: an analysis of political cycles in criminal sentencing." Review of Economics and Statistics 95, no. 3 (2013): 741-756.
Canes‐Wrone, Brandice, Tom S. Clark, and Amy Semet. "Judicial Elections, Public Opinion, and Decisions on Lower‐Salience Issues." Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 15, no. 4 (2018): 672-707.
Bonica, Adam, and Maya Sen. "The politics of selecting the bench from the bar: the legal profession and partisan incentives to introduce ideology into judicial selection." The Journal of Law and Economics 60, no. 4 (2017): 559-595.
State Policies
Reckhow, Sarah, Jeffrey R. Henig, Rebecca Jacobsen, and Jamie Alter Litt. "“Outsiders with deep pockets”: The nationalization of local school board elections." Urban Affairs Review 53, no. 5 (2017): 783-811.
Stokes, Leah C. "Electoral backlash against climate policy: A natural experiment on retrospective voting and local resistance to public policy." American Journal of Political Science 60, no. 4 (2016): 958-974.
Neeley, Grant W., and Lilliard E. Richardson Jr. "Influences on cannabis policy design and adaptation in the American states." Policy Studies Journal (2025).
Kogan, Vladimir, Stéphane Lavertu, and Zachary Peskowitz. "How does minority political representation affect school district administration and student outcomes?." American Journal of Political Science 65, no. 3 (2021): 699-716.
Final Week
No readings, Final Paper due