Authors: Stephen Calabrese
Publish Date: 2006/07/28
Volume: 130, Issue: 1-2, Pages: 23-40
Abstract
A formal rational expectation model is developed to explain why congressional singlemember districts SMD’s were mandated in 1842 and why that mandate has repeatedly been reaffirmed The tendency of voters to moderate the dominant party in the federal government combined with the singleparty sweep effect of multimember districts MMD’s creates the incentives for the strongest party to support a SMD mandate This model performs empirically much better than alternative theories The model’s prediction that the current SMD mandate is permanent is an example of how an institutional change can endure even if it no longer reflects voter preferences
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