The mechanisms of policy diffusion
@article{Shipan2008TheMO, title={The mechanisms of policy diffusion}, author={Charles R. Shipan and Craig Volden}, journal={American Journal of Political Science}, year={2008}, volume={52}, pages={840-857} }
Local policy adoptions provide an excellent opportunity to test among potential mechanisms of policy diffusion. By examining three types of antismoking policy choices by the 675 largest U.S. cities between 1975 and 2000, we uncover robust patterns of policy diffusion, yielding three key findings. First, we distinguish among and find evidence for four mechanisms of policy diffusion: learning from earlier adopters, economic competition among proximate cities, imitation of larger cities, and…
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