Electoral institutions and government performance

Thesis (M.P.P.)--Georgetown University, 2009.; Includes bibliographical references.; Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. This paper will analyze the effect of electoral institutions on state government performance. I hypothesize that states with popular initiatives and referenda, term limits, and legislatively drawn electoral districts will have poorer levels of government management than states without them. I expect the reverse to be true of states with open primaries, namely that they will have better managed government. Government performance is operationalized through the Pew Center's extensive survey grading each state government. Using both ordered probit and ordinary least squared regression I test the effect of electoral institutions and demographic control variables on state government performance. The model suggests that open primaries and term limits improve government management while popular initiatives and legislative re-districting reduce government performance.