This paper presents a comprehensive review of the literature on Ricardian analysis as applied to estimating the impact of climate change on agriculture. Through a survey of published research, we discuss revisions, expansions, and the criticisms researchers have made of the Ricardian analysis since its introduction by Mendelsohn et al. The types of dependent variables and the choice of the climate variables utilized in the Ricardian analysis are synthesized and discussed. Additionally, the paper outlines the distinctions between static and dynamic Ricardian analysis, different farm types, and analyses using aggregate and farm-level data. The paper provides a synthesis of the findings of previous studies related to the study location and farm type and explores open questions and empirical concerns that require investigation in future research.

How does Congress identify issues of sufficient concern to warrant consideration? Since the late nineteenth century, bill sponsorship by individual members has been the primary mechanism for winnowing the uncountable set of ideas for change to a finite agenda. Previous scholarship emphasizes electoral considerations and members' policy goals as motivating factors; however, the scant evidence for significant electoral returns to bill sponsorship raises questions about whether constituency concerns influence legislators' attention. We present a theory of bill sponsorship as constituency-minded policy-seeking activity and test its predictions using an original data set of bills introduced in the House of Representatives between 1881 and 1931. Using event count models and Monte Carlo simulations, we find that constituency concerns directly affect legislators' attention and indirectly influence bill sponsorship through committee assignments. These findings from a period when bill sponsorship was expansive and resource intensive illuminate how electoral factors and resource-based concerns shape legislative performance.

In states and localities with direct democracy, citizens can advance their policy interests without the aid of elected officials. Research documenting citizens’ lack of political knowledge raises questions about their ability to do so. We conduct three studies during real-world direct democracy elections to determine whether citizens choose alternatives (the ballot proposal or status quo) that are closest to their ideological positions and whether political information improves this outcome. Using original surveys, our first two studies estimate citizens’ ideological positions and show that citizens regularly choose alternatives that are closest to these positions. Using a survey experiment, our third study indicates that political information (party cues, policy information, and spatial maps) further improves such spatial voting. These results demonstrate citizens’ capacity to advance their policy interests in direct democracy elections and identify conditions under which political information strengthens the relationship between citizens’ policy interests and choices about ballot propositions.

AbstractPolitical parties and civic organizations disseminate information to improve citizen decision making in local elections. Do citizens choose to consume such information and, if so, how does it affect their decisions? We conduct a survey experiment during a real-world local election that randomly assigns 1) political party endorsements, 2) a voter guide, 3) no information, or 4) a choice among these options. Respondents assigned to receive party endorsements and a voter guide are more likely than respondents receiving no information to choose candidates who share their policy views. When given a choice, a majority opts to receive information (including many with low levels of political interest), with most respondents preferring a voter guide. Using an instrumental variable approach, we show that the effect of information on those who choose to receive it is substantial. These results offer hope that voter education efforts can succeed despite widespread political disinterest.

Abstract Income inequality has increased dramatically in the United States, yet public support for redistribution has not. The authors of this chapter theorize that mistaken beliefs about income inequality contribute to citizens’ lack of demand for greater redistribution, and that correcting these beliefs can help citizens connect their value for greater equality to their preferences for redistribution. To test their theory, they conduct a survey that measures citizens’ beliefs about income inequality and then randomly assigns them to receive factual or partisan information before expressing their support for redistributive policies. The survey found that citizens believe that income is distributed much more equitably than it actually is and that, in the absence of information, their preferences for redistribution are unrelated to whether or not they value greater equality. When citizens receive accurate information about income inequality, however, they connect their value for greater equality to their preferences for redistribution, even when their partisan allegiances recommend otherwise.

What factors shape public opinion about government solutions to address police violence? We address this question by conducting a survey in which respondents express their opinions about actual proposals to reform police practices. Within the survey, we randomly assign respondents to receive the positions of traditional advocates (Black lawmakers) and/or opponents (law enforcement) of police reform efforts. Our results reveal broad bipartisan support for the proposals, but that information about groups that support or oppose these proposals polarizes partisans’ opinions. However, Democrats and even Republicans who support Black Lives Matter (BLM) express high levels of support for the proposals regardless of the information they receive. These results suggest that partisanship in the mass public is not necessarily a barrier to police reform efforts. A bipartisan majority of the public supports meaningful reforms, and any polarizing effects of elite signals are muted by Democrats’ and Republicans’ support for BLM.

Citizens are typically uninformed about politics and know little about issues at stake in direct democracy elections. Government efforts to inform electorates include requiring donors to initiative campaigns to report their activities and then circulating such donor information to citizens. What effects does donor information have on citizens’ opinions? We conduct a survey experiment where respondents express opinions about initiatives in a real-world election. We manipulate whether they receive donor information, party cues, policy information from a nonpartisan expert, or no additional information. We find that donor information influences citizens’ opinions in the aggregate, with effects comparable to those of party cues and policy information. However, donor information has negligible effects on uninformed citizens, who have difficulty inferring donors’ policy interests and connecting them to their own. These results underscore the potential benefits of efforts to inform electorates via disclosure laws and highlight disparities in their effectiveness for informed and uninformed citizens.

The implementation of ranked-choice voting (RCV) systems across the United States anticipates several benefits. For citizens, the ability to rank multiple candidates yields increased opportunities for political expression. Taking advantage of these opportunities, however, requires both more effort by citizens and more information about candidates. What types of citizens will benefit from the greater opportunity for political expression afforded by RCV systems? We address this question by conducting an experiment in the context of the 2020 general election in San Francisco. In the experiment, we randomly assign the electoral rules (single-choice versus ranked-choice) that govern citizen decision-making and the provision of political information (a voter guide summarizing candidates’ policy positions versus no information). We assess whether respondents use the choices available to them and the extent to which they choose / rank candidates whose policy views are similar to their own. Our results indicate that a majority of respondents in the ranked-choice setting take advantage of the increased opportunities for political expression. Nonetheless, uninformed respondents (i.e., those who know relatively little about local politics) are significantly less likely than informed respondents to rank multiple candidates and use all of their allotted rankings. The rankings of uninformed respondents are also more weakly related to their own policy views. Providing an issue-oriented voter guide increases the share of uninformed respondents who use their allotted rankings, and strengthens the relationship between respondents’ candidate rankings and their policy views. Together, these results indicate that the benefits of RCV elections may not be fully realized by all types of citizens. Providing citizens with accessible forms of political information, such as an issue-oriented voter guide, can reduce these disparities and help citizens make more and potentially better informed choices.

Incidents of police violence can undermine trust in legal authorities. Whether such incidents have this effect will depend on how citizens evaluate victims, the police, and public officials. Citizens’ evaluations may be shaped by information about (1) a pattern of police violence and (2) government responses. We study citizens’ reactions to police violence by randomly assigning these two types of information in the context of the Stephon Clark shooting in Sacramento. We find that information influences levels of blame for and trust in the police, but the effects depend on citizens’ race and whether they live in the community where the violence occurred. In contrast, information does not alter citizens’ perceptions of local police officer organizations and, in turn, their willingness to follow police endorsements in elections. These results suggest a catch-22 whereby police violence can diminish the standing of police personnel, but favorable local opinion preserves their political influence.

Efforts to educate citizens about the candidates and issues at stake in elections are widespread. These include distributing voter guides describing candidates’ policy views and interactive tools conveying similar information. Do these voter education tools help voters identify candidates who share their policy views? We address this question by conducting survey experiments that randomly assign a nonpartisan voter guide, political party endorsements, a spatial map showing voters their own and the candidates’ ideological positions, or both a spatial map and party endorsements. We find that each type of information strengthens the relationship between voters’ policy views and those of the candidates they choose. These effects are largest for uninformed voters. When spatial maps and party endorsements send conflicting signals, many voters choose candidates with more similar policy views, against their party’s recommendation. These results contribute to debates about citizen competence and demonstrate the efficacy of practical efforts to inform electorates.

The purpose of this chapter is to highlight some of the most valuable suggestions for future organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) research made by the authors of this handbook. It is organized by section, beginning with future research issues related to the conceptual nature of OCB. Following this, we examine new directions for research on the consequences and antecedents of OCB. Next, we highlight promising ideas related to the mediating mechanisms and boundary conditions of the antecedents and consequences of OCBs that could be investigated in future research. Finally, we call attention to several methodological issues and problems that have implications for future research.

Participation equality, a prominent construct that has received much attention in group decision-making research, has been studied with both perceptual and objective measures. Yet, research findings regarding participation equality have been inconsistent and equivocal. We argue that one reason for this inconsistency is how participation equality has been conceptualized and measured. In some studies, researchers have theorized and measured participation equality using observed behavior. In other studies, researchers have theorized and measured participation equality using perceptual measures. We conducted an experiment to investigate the similarities and differences between these two measures. Our results indicate that (1) perceived participation equality (PPE) and observed participation equality (OPE) are theoretically separate and distinct constructs that (2) affect and are affected by other constructs in different ways within their nomological network. OPE and PPE were more different than they were similar, sharing only 10.8% of their variance. In other words, perceptions of participation equality were predominantly influenced by factors other than observed behaviors related to participation equality. We believe that these results call for more theory and research regarding the differences between observed behavior and perceptions of behavior in group decision making. As we move into new computer-mediated communication technologies such as Web Conferencing, Virtual Reality, and Enterprise Social Media that enable new forms of participation, we need to consider what constitutes participation and how new forms of participation should be measured and evaluated. In the large group environments of Enterprise Social Media, the differences between OPE and PPE are likely to become more pronounced.

Income inequality has risen dramatically in the United States, with potentially negative social, economic, and political consequences. Governments can use redistributive taxes to combat inequality, but doing so requires public support. When will voters support redistributive taxes? Using the dual-process framework, we make predictions about the conditions under which party cues and information about rising inequality affect support for redistributive taxes. We test these predictions by conducting survey experiments in a real-world electoral context. We find that although citizens are misinformed about the extent of inequality, information that corrects their misperceptions helps them express tax policy opinions that are consistent with their preferences for lower levels of inequality. We also find that citizens who are motivated to process inequality information systematically respond to it even when it conflicts with their party's position. These results identify conditions under which efforts to inform the electorate about inequality can increase support for taxes.

Studies of bill sponsorship in the modern Congress highlight the effects of constituency characteristics, seniority, and committee membership. These studies, however, are limited in their ability to assess the effects of institutions. We provide the first systematic study of bill sponsorship in the premodern House of Representatives. In doing so, we take advantage of this period's expansive legislative agenda and variation in electoral system rules. Using matching and event count models, we estimate the effects of institutions, electoral competition, and members' institutional positions and political experiences on their sponsorship of different types of bills. We find that two reforms-the Australian ballot and nominating primary-increased sponsorship of bills designed to cultivate personal votes, thereby contributing to the growth in private legislation and bills aimed at local constituencies. Our results establish these reforms as a major event shaping lawmaking activity and, with it, the character of contemporary representation.

With the growth of Latino and Asian American populations, candidates frequently must appeal to diverse electorates. Strategies for doing so include emphasizing candidates' racial/ethnic identity and securing endorsements from racial/ethnic groups. While many scholars focus on candidates' racial/ethnic attributes, ethnic group endorsements are understudied. Whether such endorsements induce voters to choose ideologically similar candidates (spatial voting), or choose based on race/ethnicity (racial voting) is unclear. We address this question by examining elections in multiethnic local settings. Using original surveys and exit polls, we create comparable measures of candidate and voter ideology, and examine how race/ethnicity and ideology affect voters' choices. We also embed experiments that manipulate ethnic group endorsements. We find that ideology influences voters' choices, but that ethnic group endorsements weaken spatial voting. The latter effect among whites is driven by racial/ethnic stereotypes. These reactions explain why some candidates seek such endorsements and why others might prefer to avoid them.

Since their introduction into the literature over 30 years ago, the interest paid to organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) has dramatically increased. One reason for this is the relatively recent focus placed by researchers on identifying unit-level antecedents of individual-level OCBs. Unfortunately, our understanding of this growing area of research has been limited by the absence of strong and consistent conceptual foundations, and the lack of sufficient attention to appropriate methods for gathering and analyzing multilevel data. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to (a) provide a summary of research examining how unit-level factors influence individual-level OCBs, with particular attention to the mediators and moderators of these effects; (b) offer recommendations designed to provide stronger conceptual grounding for identifying antecedents, mediators, and moderators in this domain; and (c) suggest improvements to the methods and analytical techniques used for testing hypotheses regarding multilevel antecedents of OCB.

This chapter provides an introduction and overview to the Handbook of Organizational Citizenship Behavior. It begins with a brief discussion of how organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) was traditionally defined and then explores the reasons why this concept has gained so much attention in the past three decades. Following this, we provide an overview of the Handbook. Specifically, the Handbook is organized into four sections: the history and meaning of organizational citizenship behavior; the consequences of OCB, the antecedents of OCB, and moving forward. Finally, we provide a brief description of the contents of the chapters in each of these sections.

Despite the importance of establishing good, clear concept definitions in organizational research, the field lacks a comprehensive source that explains how to effectively develop and articulate a concept’s domain. Thus, the purpose of this article is to explain why clear conceptual definitions are essential for scientific progress and provide a concrete set of steps that researchers can follow to improve their conceptual definitions. First, we define what is meant by a concept, describe the functions served by concepts in scientific endeavors, and identify problems associated with a lack of conceptual clarity. Then we explain why it is so difficult to adequately define concepts. Next, we provide a series of recommendations for scholars in the organizational, behavioral, and social sciences who are either trying to define a new concept or revise the definition of one that already exists in the field. Following this, we provide some examples that generally meet the criteria for a good conceptual definition. We conclude with a set of questions that authors, reviewers, and editors can use as a guide for evaluating concept definitions.