REGIONAL LEADERSHIP PATTERNS IN THE DIFFUSION OF PUBLIC POLICIES

Abstract

The possibility that the American states will emulate the policy adoptions of their neighbors has been suggested in the literature on policy outputs of the states. The present study compares times of adoptions for 47 policies for all pairs of neighboring states and identifies the regional leaders present. The patterns of regional leadership changed over time, becoming less pronounced from the pre-World War I era, to the period between the wars, to the post-World War II era. Still, there were distinctive patterns of regional leadership, and cuetaking among the American states is a factor in the spread of policies.