The Congressional Leadership Tournament

• In Event: Strategic and Tactical Legislative Coalitions

Abstract

Most previous research on the design of congressional leadership institutions overlooks how it affects the incentives of rank-and-file legislators to perform valuable services for their fellow members. We draw on tournament theory from personnel economics to model the relationship between the endogenous attractiveness of leadership positions and the effort that members exert to win those positions. The theory predicts that as the relationship between legislators' effort and their probability of winning the tournament increases, the legislature makes the office more attractive and the aspirants exert more effort. We test these predictions with data on committee-level bill referrals, leadership PAC activity, committee turnover, and appropriations. Our analysis implies that legislative organization decisions have important implications for members' behavior and the styles they choose when representing their constituents.

Authors

• Christian Fong, University of Michigan

• Josh McCrain, University of Utah