Legislative Entrepreneurship in the U.S. House of Representatives (Michigan Studies in Political Analysis)

"What motivates members of the House to acquire policy knowledge, draft legislation, build coalitions, and push their legislation through the legislative process? What incentives do members have to perform what many perceive to be the difficult and unrewarding tasks of legislating? Gregory Wawro examines these questions to explain why legislators engage in entrepreneurship.". "This book shows how entrepreneurial actions relate to members' goals of reelection, enacting good public policy, and obtaining influence in the House. Wawro's analysis differs from previous studies of this behavior, which for the most part employed case study methods and relied on anecdotal evidence to support the arguments. Wawro analyzes legislative entrepreneurship in a general and systematic fashion, developing hypotheses from rational choice based theories and testing these hypotheses using quantitative methods." "This book is of interest to students of Congress, legislative behavior, elections, and campaign finance."--BOOK JACKET.