Bicameralism and Policy Responsiveness to Public Opinion

Does the organization of the assembly affect whether governments deliver policy that reflects the public’s changingpreferences? Cross-national analyses of public opinion and policy outputs for policies concerning welfare and immigrationshow that governments respond to shifts in public opinion in systems with a dominant chamber but not where bicameralismis strong. Our theory’s emphasis on the distribution of powerbetweenchambers further explains differenceswithinbicam-eral systems: constraints on policy change mean that responsiveness is weaker where power is equally distributed betweenchambers... Mehr ...