2022/12/02 by S. Nageeb Ali, B. Douglas Bernheim, Ali, S. Nageeb +5
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Economic Policies and Impacts #FOS: Economics and business #Local Government Finance and Decentralization #Politics, Economics, and Education Policy #Theoretical Economics (econ.TH)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2212.01263
openalex publication_date 2022/12/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
This paper models legislative decision-making with an agenda setter who can propose policies sequentially, tailoring each proposal to the status quo that prevails after prior votes. Voters are sophisticated and the agenda setter cannot commit to her future proposals. Nevertheless, the agenda setter obtains her favorite outcome in every equilibrium regardless of the initial default policy. Central to our results is a new condition on preferences, manipulability, that holds in rich policy spaces, including spatial settings and distribution problems. Our results overturn the conventional wisdom that voter sophistication alone constrains an agenda setter's power.