TY - JOUR
T1 - Retesting selectorate theory
T2 - Separating the effects of W from other elements of democracy
AU - Morrow, James D.
AU - De Mesquita, Bruce Bueno
AU - Siverson, Randolph M.
AU - Smith, Alastair
PY - 2008/8
Y1 - 2008/8
N2 - Kevin Clarke and Randall Stone (2008) offer a methodological critique of some of our tests of the selectorate theory in The Logic of Political Survival (Bueno de Mesquita et al. 2003). We accept their critique of residualization for control variables in those tests, but reject the contention that the size of the winning coalition does not predict the provision of public goods and private benefits. We present new tests that control for elements of democracy other than W and that do not use residualization. These new tests show that selectorate theory is strongly and robustly supported. Our measure of the size of the winning coalition is in the theoretically predicted direction and is statistically significant for 28 out of 31 different public goods and private benefits. Aspects of democracy not contained in the selectorate theory explain less of the variance than does the theory's core factor, namely, winning coalition size, for 25 of the 31 public goods and private benefits.
AB - Kevin Clarke and Randall Stone (2008) offer a methodological critique of some of our tests of the selectorate theory in The Logic of Political Survival (Bueno de Mesquita et al. 2003). We accept their critique of residualization for control variables in those tests, but reject the contention that the size of the winning coalition does not predict the provision of public goods and private benefits. We present new tests that control for elements of democracy other than W and that do not use residualization. These new tests show that selectorate theory is strongly and robustly supported. Our measure of the size of the winning coalition is in the theoretically predicted direction and is statistically significant for 28 out of 31 different public goods and private benefits. Aspects of democracy not contained in the selectorate theory explain less of the variance than does the theory's core factor, namely, winning coalition size, for 25 of the 31 public goods and private benefits.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=52949127390&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=52949127390&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S0003055408080295
DO - 10.1017/S0003055408080295
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:52949127390
SN - 0003-0554
VL - 102
SP - 393
EP - 400
JO - American Political Science Review
JF - American Political Science Review
IS - 3
ER -