This study introduces experimental research design into policy diffusion studies, focusing on political ideology's impact.
Context & Approach:
- Two experiments embedded within national surveys of U.S. municipal policymakers explored their learning behaviors.
- Policymakers were exposed to vignettes about successful zoning and home foreclosure policies from other cities.
Key Findings:
- Ideologically opposed policymakers showed reduced willingness to learn from peer experiences.
- This bias could be mitigated by highlighting the policy's success or its adoption by co-partisans elsewhere.
- A partisan-based bias was also observed among traditional ideological supporters, reducing learning from opponents' communities.
Methodological Contribution:
- The experimental approach offers new insights and opportunities for scholars studying how policies spread.
