Of Models and Methods: A Response to Matsusaka

In: State politics & policy quarterly: the official journal of the State Politics and Policy Section of the American Political Science Association, Band 5, Heft 4, S. 364-372

Abstract

A response to John G. Matsusaka's comment on the authors Fiscal Effects of Voter Initiative Reconsidered: Addressing Endogeneity (both, 2005) rejects his correction to their model & his claim that his estimation corresponds to the findings in the rest of the literature. Discussion begins by demonstrating that the empirical evidence on fiscal conservatism in the literature is not consistent. Attention turns to showing how their key finding regarding the endogeneity of the initiative stands up under alternative model specifications, including Matsusaka's proposal. Evidence of endogeneity is found regardless of which equations include the legislative size variable. Tables, References. J. Zendejas