Students of local politics have argued American federalism implies little role for local tastes in policy making. Peterson (1979) anticipates the pursuit of a productive tax base will depress subnational government spending on social services, while promoting developmental policies. We investigate the role public opinion plays in county-level redistributive, developmental, and allocational program spending in California, using a novel measure of county political ideology. Our findings challenge expectations that local governments are uniformly biased against redistribution. We find that social service spending varies across counties as a function of ideological orientation. In several policy areas, institutional structure mediates the responsiveness of officials.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Percival et al. (2008) studied this question.