Panel Paper:
Determinants of States' Adoption of a Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate
Thursday, November 12, 2015
:
8:30 AM
Gautier (Hyatt Regency Miami)
*Names in bold indicate Presenter
Policy adoption is of enduring interest to policy analysts and policy process scholars. While recent scholarship has offered valuable insights on the various internal and external determinants that influence policy adoption, most studies to date have focused on states' adoption of policies that regulate intra state target populations. However, many policies regulate target populations that are not domiciled to any particular state, which has the potential to dramatically influence the political dynamics of policy adoption decision making. In this paper we examine this possibility through a study of states' adoption of a Zero Emission Vehicle mandate that regulates the behavior of vehicle manufacturers across states. Our results show that state based interest groups are less influential in driving state policy adoption than other political and policy variables. Through this empirical application, we are able to offer theoretical and practical insight about the link between policy target population dynamics and policy adoption.
