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Title: Abstentions and Social Networks in Congress

Author(s): Marco Battaglini, Valerio Leone Sciabolazza and Eleonora Patacchini

Publication Date: September 2020

Keyword(s): abstention, alumni networks, Social Networks and U.S. Congress

Programme Area(s): Public Economics

Abstract: We study the extent to which personal connections among legislators influence abstentions in the U.S. Congress. Our analysis is conducted by observing representatives' abstention for the universe of roll call votes held on bills in the 109th-113th Congresses. Our results show that a legislator's propensity to abstain increases when the majority of his or her alumni connections abstains, even after controlling for other well-known predictors of abstention choices and a vast set of fixed effects. We further reveal that a legislator is more prone to abstain than to take sides when the demands from personal connections conflict with those of the legislator's party.

For full details and related downloads, please visit: https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=15270

Bibliographic Reference

Battaglini, M, Leone Sciabolazza, V and Patacchini, E. 2020. 'Abstentions and Social Networks in Congress'. London, Centre for Economic Policy Research. https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=15270