Introducing a New Database on U.S. State Policies: Ideology and Urbanism Measures

This paper introduces a comprehensive new database cataloging U.S. state and local public policies from 2006, available at www.statepolicyindex.com.

Research Focus:

The study presents two novel measures of state policy orientation using principal components analysis: one gauges liberal ideology while the other captures urban characteristics across states.

Key Findings:

• Policy liberalism demonstrates strong reliability and validity

• Urbanization levels, minority populations, and religious demographics predict policy urbanism scores

Innovations & Implications:

The unique combination of these two dimensions offers fresh insights into understanding state-level governance approaches. States with higher liberal policies tend to differ from those prioritizing urban-centric measures.