JPART — 2026-08-19
Original Conditional Compliance: The Role of Sector and Policy Design in State Sexual Misconduct Policy
Jaeyeong Nam, Daniel L Fay, Emily Boykin, Elizabeth Bell
PAR — 2026-06-19
Original Selection Method, Partisanship, and Performance of Government Oversight Functions
Lang (Kate) Yang
Abstract
ABSTRACT This study examines how the selection of public sector leaders affects organizational outcomes, especially in oversight functions where independence is expected. Political economy literature suggests that elected leaders better respond to voter preferences, while appointed leaders possess more expertise. Drawing on public administration theories of political control of the bureaucracy, we posit that, regardless of the selection method, public sector leaders as agents are subject to the influence of political principals with authority over the selection process. When the principal's interest is not aligned with the public interest, as seen in government oversight functions, its influence could compromise the performance of the selected leaders. Focusing on state auditors, the study finds that on average, selection methods are not correlated with audit findings, but an auditor whose political principal shares the same party affiliation as the auditee (the state governor) is less likely to identify financial management deficiencies.
JOP — 2026-04-28
Original Political Power of Bureaucratic Agents: Evidence from Policing in New York City
Elisa Maria Wirsching
Abstract
To what extent can bureaucrats manipulate public service provision for explicitly political ends? Existing research highlights the ability of bureaucrats to influence governments through campaign contributions, endorsements, and election turnout. I explore a more fundamental mechanism: bureaucrats strategically shirking responsibil ities to leverage voters. Politicians rely on bureaucrats to achieve policy goals, which grants bureaucrats considerable leverage. When bureaucrats deviate in preferences from politicians and are politically organized and independent, they can reduce ef fort to exert political pressure. I use data on New York Police Department (NYPD) 911 response times and council members’ preferences on the FY2021 $1 billion cut to the NYPD’s budget. Employing difference-in-differences and spatial difference-in discontinuities designs, I find that police disproportionately reduced effort in districts of misaligned politicians by slowing response times. This study informs the theoretical debate on principal-agent relationships in government and highlights the importance of organized political interests to explain policing in US cities.
PAR — 2026-04-21
Original Conditional Embeddedness: Local Government Attention Under Institutional Incentives
Jiali Wang, Junming Zhu, Huibin Du
Abstract
ABSTRACT Government attention is crucial to policy change and outcome. For local agents, their attention is explained by various factors, and a thorough understanding is needed to integrate diverse perspectives. Combining vertical, horizontal, local, and personal influences, we formulate a conditional embeddedness framework for local agents. The framework explains that agents' attention is primarily directed by principals, but this directed shift is horizontally and locally shaped by political and economic contexts, conditional on agents' traits. Empirically, we test attentional responses of 328 prefecture‐level governments to an environmental reform in China. Results corroborate our hypotheses, showing that local government attention generally increases following a reform, but the increases vary due to promotion competition and firm dominance and are further moderated by mayors' education and work experience. The findings demonstrate the importance of interactions between contextual and individual features in the shifts of local government attention and their responsiveness in a principal‐agent relationship.