Hostname: page-component-76d6cb85b7-hqrjx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-07-20T05:16:28.266Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Toward a Theory of the Political Entrepreneur: Evidence from Local Government

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Mark Schneider  and
Paul Teske
Mark Schneider
Affiliation:
State University of New York, Stony Brook
Paul Teske
Affiliation:
State University of New York, Stony Brook
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Political scientists have been increasingly interested in entrepreneurs—individuals who change the direction and flow of politics. In this research note, we synthesize aspects of an economic approach to entrepreneurship with concepts used in political science. We then tie these theoretical observations to the emergence of entrepreneurs in local governments and test components of our theory using observations from a large set of suburban municipal governments. Empirically, we identify several conditions that affect the probability that an entrepreneur will emerge in a local government, especially slack budgetary resources that the political entrepreneur can reallocate. We also find that the probability with which an entrepreneur is found in local government is a function of the difficulty of overcoming collective action problems in a community.

Information

Type
Research Notes
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 86 , Issue 3 , September 1992 , pp. 737 - 747
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Arnold, R. Douglas. 1990. The Logic of Congressional Action. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Austen-Smith, David, and Riker, William H.. 1987. “Asymmetric Information and the Coherence of Legislation.” American Political Science Review. 81:897–918.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baumgartner, Frank, and Jones, Bryan D.. 1991. “Agenda Dynamics and Policy Subsystems.” Journal of Politics 53:1044–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beam, David R. 1989. “Policy Entrepreneurship and the Politics of Ideas.” Presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Atlanta.Google Scholar
Bendor, Jonathan, Taylor, Serge, and Van Galen, Roland. 1987. “Politicians, Bureaucrats, and Asymmetric Information.” American Journal of Political Science 81:796–828.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bianco, William T., and Bates, Robert H.. 1990. “Cooperation by Design: Leadership, Structure, and Collective Dilemmas.” American Political Science Review 84:133–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blair, John P., Fichtenbaum, Rudy H., and Swaney, James A.. 1984. “The Market for Jobs: Locational Decisions and the Competition for Economic Development.” Urban Affairs Quarterly 20:64–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burns, Nancy Elizabeth. 1991. “Making Politics Permanent: The Formation of American Local Governments, 1950–1987.” Presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago.Google Scholar
Calvert, Randall L. 1987. “Coordination and Power: The Foundation of Leadership among Rational Legislators.” Presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago.Google Scholar
Casson, Mark. 1982. The Entrepreneur: An Economic Theory. Oxford: Martin Robertson.Google Scholar
Clark, Terry N., and Ferguson, Lorna. 1983. City Money. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Clarke, Susan. 1990. “Local Autonomy in the Post-Reagan Period.” Presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Collver, Andrew, and Semyonov, Moishe. 1979. “Suburban Change and Persistence.” American Sociological Review 44:480–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, Kevin R. 1982. “Housing Tenure and Neighborhood Activism.” Urban Affairs Quarterly 18:107–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doig, Jameson, and Hargrove, Erwin C., eds. 1987. Leadership and Innovation: A Biographic Perspective on Entrepreneurs in Government. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Donovan, Todd, and Neiman, Max. N.d. “Community Social Status, Suburban Growth, and Local Government Restrictions on Residential Development.” Urban Affairs Quarterly. Forthcoming.Google Scholar
Dye, Thomas R., and Garcia, John A.. 1978. “Structure, Function, and Pohcy in American Cities.” Urban Affairs Quarterly 14:103–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisinger, Peter. 1988. The Rise of the Entrepreneurial State. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Elder, Charles D., and Cobb, Roger W.. 1983. The Political Uses of Symbols. New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Elkin, Stephen. 1985. “Twentieth Century Regimes.” Journal of Urban Affairs 7:11–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenno, Richard F. Jr., 1978. Home Style. Boston: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Fiorina, Morris P. 1977. Congress: Keystone of the Washington Establishment. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Frohlich, Norman, and Oppenheimer, Joe A.. 1978. Modern Political Economy. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Gilligan, Thomas W., and Krehbiel, Keith. 1990. “Organization of Informative Communities by a Rational Legislature.” American Journal of Political Science 34:531–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grofman, Bernard, and Lijphart, Arend. 1986. Electoral Laws and Their Consequences. New York: Agathon.Google Scholar
Harsanyi, J. 1967–1968. “Games with Incomplete Information Played by Bayesian Players.” Management Sciences 14: 159–82, 320–34, 486–502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayek, F. A. 1949. Individualism and Economic Order. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Kingdon, John. 1984. Agenda, Alternatives, and Public Policies. Boston: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Kirchheimer, D. W. 1989. “Public Entrepreneurship and Subnational Government.” Polity 22:108–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirzner, Israel M. 1973. Competition and Entrepreneurship. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Kirzner, Israel M. 1985. Discovery and the Capitalist Process. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Krasner, Stephen D. 1984. “Approaches to the State.” Comparative Politics 16:223–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, Eugene. 1980. Public Entrepreneurship: Toward a Theory of Bureaucratic Power. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Logan, John R., and Molotch, Harvey. 1987. Urban Fortunes. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Logan, John R., and Rabrenovic, Gordana. 1990. “Neighborhood Associations: Their Issues, Their Allies, and Their Opposition.” Urban Affairs Quarterly 26:68–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Logan, John R., and Zhou, M.. 1990. “The Adoption of Growth Controls in Suburban Communities.” Social Science Quarterly 71:118–29.Google Scholar
Milgrom, Paul, and Roberts, John. 1982. “Limit Pricing and Entry under Incomplete Information: An Equilibrium Analysis.” Econometrica 50:443–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milward, H. Brinton, and Laird, Wendy. 1990. “Where Does Policy Come From?” Presented at the annual meeting of the Western Political Science Association, Newport Beach.Google Scholar
Milward, H. Brinton, and Newman, Heidi Hosbach. 1989. “State Incentive Packages and the Industrial Location Decision.” Economic Development Quarterly 3:202–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moe, Terry M. 1980. The Organization of Interests. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Mollenkopf, John H. 1983. The Contested City. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Morgan, David R., and Pelissero, John P.. 1981. “Urban Policy: Does Political Structure Matter?” American Political Science Review 74:999–1006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Niskanen, William A. 1975. “Bureaucrats and Politicians.” Journal of Law and Economics 18:617–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oakerson, Ronald, and Parks, Roger B.. 1988. “Citizen Voice and Public Entrepreneurship: The Organizational Dynamic of a Complex Metropolitan County.” Publius: The journal of Federalism 1988:91–112.Google Scholar
Olson, Mancur. 1965. The Logic of Collective Action. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ostrom, Elinor. 1990. Governing the Commons. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parker, Glenn R. 1986. Homeward Bound: Explaining Changes in Congressional Behavior. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parker, Glenn R. 1991. “Congressmen as Discretion-Maximizers.” Paper presented at the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, Indiana University, Bloomington.Google Scholar
Peterson, Paul. 1981. City Limits. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pinchot, G. III. 1985. Intrapreneuring. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Ricketts, Martin. 1987. The New Industrial Economics. New York: St. Martin's.Google Scholar
Riker, William. 1982. Liberalism against Populism: A Confrontation between the Theory of Democracy and the Theory of Social Choice. New York: Freeman.Google Scholar
Riker, William. 1986. The Art of Political Manipulation. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Roberts, Nancy. 1991. “Public Entrepreneurship and Innovation.” Typescript. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey.Google Scholar
Ronen, Joshua, ed. 1983. Entrepreneurship. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Schneider, Mark. 1989. The Competitive City: The Political Economy of Suburbia. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.Google Scholar
Schneider, Mark. 1992. “Undermining the Growth Machine: The Missing Link between Local Economic Development and Fiscal Payoffs.” Journal of Politics 54:214–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, Mark, and Logan, John R.. 1982. “The Effects of Local Government Finances on Community Growth Rates: A Test of the Tiebout Model.” Urban Affairs Quarterly 18:91–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, Mark, and Teske, Paul. N.d. “The Antigrowth Entrepreneur: Challenging the ‘Equilibrium’ of the Growth Machine.” Journal of Politics. Forthcoming.Google Scholar
Schumpeter, Joseph. 1942. Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Shackle, George L. S. 1972. Epistemics and Economics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Shepsle, Kenneth A. 1979. “Institutional Arrangements and Equilibrium in Multidimensional Voting Models.” American Journal of Political Science 23:27–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stone, Clarence N. 1989. Regime Politics. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press.Google Scholar
Taylor, Michael. 1982. Community, Anarchy, and Liberty. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tiebout, Charles. 1956. “A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures.” Journal of Political Economy 64:416–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tullock, Gordon. 1965. “Entry Barriers in Politics.” American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings 1965:458–66.Google Scholar
Walker, Jack L. 1981. “The Diffusion of Knowledge, Policy Communities, and Agenda Setting.” In New Strategic Perspectives on Social Policy, ed. Tropman, John. London: Pergamon.Google Scholar
Weissert, Carol S. 1991. “Policy Entrepreneurs, Policy Opportunities, and Legislative Effectiveness.” American Politics Quarterly 19:262–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.