Exposure to Neighbor Adoptions, Agenda Setting Behavior, and Policy Diffusion

Article Abstract:
Recent scholarship has downplayed the role of geography in policy diffusion, giving more attention to state similarity. Geography, however, still appears to be important for some policies and contexts, and we know less about its importance in influencing outcomes at stages prior to adoption, such as agenda setting. In this article, I examine the extent to which geography plays a role in shaping the agenda-setting behavior that precedes policy adoption. Taking advantage of mismatches between state boundaries and media markets, I look at the agenda-setting behavior of legislators who have been “exposed” to policy adoptions in neighboring states. Drawing on a database of policy adoptions of 13 criminal justice policies, I find that legislators exposed to out-of-state adoptions are more likely to author and sponsor these bills, offering a microlevel mechanism that substantiates the role of geography in policy diffusion.