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Political Science

Georgia State University

Theses/Dissertations

Congress

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

The Political Economy Of Federal Assistance: Demand-Side Determinants Of New Awards In The 110th Congress, Matthew A. Lenard Dec 2010

The Political Economy Of Federal Assistance: Demand-Side Determinants Of New Awards In The 110th Congress, Matthew A. Lenard

Political Science Theses

An extensive literature examines how distributive (i.e., “pork barrel”) spending is allocated among congressional districts. Much of this research finds evidence that intra-chamber factors like ideology, party, and committee membership are the primary determinants of various forms of distributive spending. However, we know much less about how extra-chamber factors such as district-level demand and the economy impact the distribution of federal outlays. In this study, I find that district-level demand and variation in economic factors, in particular, income and unemployment, significantly predict the distribution of new bureaucratic awards in the 110th Congress. The results support the contention that districts get …


Administrative Law Judge Decision Making In A Political Environment, 1991 - 2007, Cole Donovan Taratoot Jun 2008

Administrative Law Judge Decision Making In A Political Environment, 1991 - 2007, Cole Donovan Taratoot

Political Science Dissertations

Unelected bureaucrats make a broad range of important policy decisions raising concerns of accountability in a democratic society. Many classics in the literature highlight the need to understand agency decisions at stages prior to the final vote by agency appointees, but few studies of the bureaucracy do so. To this point, scholars have treated the issue of shirking as one where laziness and inefficiency are the driving forces. However, it is more realistic to expect that shirking comes in the form of ideological resistance by administrators. I develop a theory that the independence afforded to the bureaucracy is functionally comparable …