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Gun ownership is a highly consequential political behavior. It often signifies a belief about the inadequacy of state-provided security and leads to membership in a powerful political constituency. As a result, it is important to understand why people buy guns and how shifting purchasing patterns affect the composition of the broader gun-owning community. We address these topics by exploring the dynamics of the gun-buying spike that took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was one of the largest in American history. We find that feelings of diffuse threat prompted many individuals to buy guns. Moreover, we show that new gun owners, even more than buyers who already owned guns, exhibit strong conspiracy and anti-system beliefs. These findings have substantial consequences for the subsequent population of gun owners and provide insight into how social disruptions can alter the nature of political groups.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the net effect of golf courses’ proximity on home sale prices in Kern County, California. Design/methodology/approach A spatial Durbin error model is used with sales price data for 1,693 homes sold in Kern County in the third quarter of 2018. This paper compares 90 different spatial econometric models using Bayesian techniques to produce posterior model probabilities which guided model selection and the number of neighbors to use. Findings The results show that significant spatial dependence exists in home values in Kern County. Point estimates indicate that homes abutting golf courses are valued at less than those which are not. This study also finds that the farther away from golf courses the average home is, the higher its value. Originality/value This study contributes to the existing literature in three dimensions. First, this paper analyzes whether proximity to golf courses impacts home values in Kern County where a study of this nature has not been conducted. Second, the analysis uses transaction data for 2018 which was a period when the sport’s popularity was fading and golf courses closing. Third, Bayesian model comparison techniques are used to select the appropriate model.

Information is a critically important, yet hard to measure, component on policy innovation across state governments. Widespread use of broadband has made it easier for governments to observe other actors, increasing the amount of policy information, while also diversifying the sources of information available to policymakers. This should translate into making governments more innovative over time and quicker to adapt to challenges. At the same time, the Internet may disrupt previous existing flows of information by decreasing the importance of geographic proximity and creating more nationalized or global information networks. We argue that the growth of broadband has made states more innovative over time, while also reducing the reliance on neighboring state adoptions for policy solutions as the information environment becomes both richer and more nationalized. We estimate a pooled event history analysis on hundreds of policies comparing the treatment period (2000–2016) with a control condition (last two decades of the 20th century) and find that states with higher broadband subscriptions are more innovative overall and less reliant on geographic contiguity for policy solutions. The growth of information flows due to digital communications has led to states becoming more innovative while also operating in a more nationalized network.

We utilize a new policy adoption database with over 500 policies to test whether the initiative process influences the timing of policy adoption. Prior studies have produced both supportive and null findings of the effect of the initiative, but typically examine policies one policy or a single composite score at a time. Theoretical accounts suggest that the initiative process should have heterogeneous effects on policy outcomes depending on the configuration of public and government preferences. By pooling hundreds of policies we are able to estimate the average effect of the initiative process on state policy adoption more systematically while also evaluating variation in its effect. We find via a pooled event history analysis that the initiative tends to increase innovativeness, but that this effect can be cancelled out by signature and distribution requirements. We find that this effect varies substantially across policies and is more consistently positive on average in states more liberal populations. We also find evidence that the initiative process moderates the effect of ideology on policy adoption, while making the adoption of non-ideological policies more likely on average.

Purpose The objective of this paper is to examine whether the financial satisfaction (FS) of a state’s residents is affected by the funding ratio of the state’s public pension. Design/methodology/approach A multilevel hierarchal probit model that control for the funding ratio at the state level and its resident’s FS at the individual level was used to determine how a one-unit increase in funding ratio of a state’s pension plan affected the degree of FS experienced by the individual residing within that state. Findings The marginal effect from the probit model estimated suggest that a state’s pension plan funding ratio does affect the degree of FS experienced by its residents. Research limitations/implications This study only examined data from 2015, thus, future research should consider examining this question via longitude studies, perhaps a survivor model. Practical implications States that fail to address their pension plan’s funding ratio may be exposing their residents to negative externality that could potentially influence an individual’s choice to relocate to another state that is not facing similar issues. Originality/value To the best of authors’ knowledge, the current body of research has yet to address and/or research the externalities associated with the underfunding of public pension plans throughout the USA. This paper combined two unique sets of publicly available data from all 50 states along with a sample of its residents to examine how public policy associated with state and/or local government pension affect its residents.

In recent years, a number of papers have looked at the adoption and diffusion of taxes across national, state, and local governments. Spending pressures, reductions in tax collection costs, median voter preferences, and social learning have been found to play an important role in the adoption of the income tax. Spatial econometrics were used to study the diffusions of income taxes across states from 1900 to 2010. Using United States Census Bureau data, negative spatial autocorrelation in income tax adoption was found. This is consistent with Tiebout competition reducing the likelihood of income tax adoption. States whose neighbors adopted income taxes were less likely to do so. This work informs the literature on policy diffusion as well as the understanding of why only some states utilize the income tax.

We examine the determinants of intra‐U.S. population migration at the metropolitan area level (MSA), with an emphasis on the presence of policies that are consistent with economic freedom. We are the first to produce a multivariate regression analysis of migration and economic freedom at the local level. Combining a 1993–2014 unbalanced panel of MSA‐to‐MSA migration data from the Internal Revenue Service with a new economic freedom index for U.S. metropolitan areas, we find that a 10% increase in economic freedom of a destination MSA, relative to the economic freedom of an origin MSA, was associated with a 27.4% increase in net migration from the origin MSA to the destination MSA. If we use mean net migration flows as a benchmark, we would expect a 10% increase in relative economic freedom to increase net migration to the destination MSA by 22 workers per year from each other MSA.

This study examines residential solar photovoltaic (PV) adoption in mid-Atlantic counties over the 2005–2016 period. Using a spatial Durbin panel model, we find significant spatial dependence in residential solar PV adoption at the county level. In the presence of spatial dependence, major determinants of the solar adoptions are electricity rates and solar-related policy regulation. The combined direct and indirect effect of electricity rates on solar PV capacity is 5.37 percent increase for a 1 percent increase in electricity price. This spatial coefficient estimate is about twice as large as corresponding panel estimates. We also find that the regulation and incentives significantly boost solar PV demand, which explains about 38 percent variation in residential solar capacity.

Conventional wisdom suggests that small businesses are innovative engines of Schumpetarian growth. However, as small businesses, they are likely to face credit rationing in financial markets. If true, then policies that promote lending to small businesses may yield substantial economy-wide returns. We examine the relationship between Small Business Administration (SBA) lending and local economic growth using a spatial econometric framework and a sample of U.S. counties. We find evidence that a county’s SBA lending per capita is associated with direct negative effects on its income growth. We also find evidence of indirect negative effects on the growth rates of neighboring counties. Overall, a 10% increase in SBA loans per capita is associated with a cumulative decrease in income growth rates of about 0.02 to 0.03 percentage points.

This chapter portrays the inequalities in broadband adoption that exist across and within the nation’s largest cities, even those at the forefront of gigabit networks and smart city advances. Neighborhood maps show wide disparities in broadband subscriptions between affluent and poor zip codes, with up to 50-percentage-point differences in connectivity within cities. People in poor communities are much more likely to rely on cell phones for internet access, while residents of more affluent communities have both home broadband and smartphones. This chapter also describes local government efforts to address these inequalities and an evaluation of Chicago’s Smart Communities program. The Smart Communities initiative demonstrated a significant level of neighborhood change toward its goal of building a culture of technology use throughout the community.

This chapter examines how information access affects policy innovation in the states, which set the laws and context for local economies. Information has been viewed as a resource for the adoption of new policy ideas and programs, and broadband subscriptions are a measure of digital information access for policymakers, interest groups, and the public. This chapter assesses the effects of broadband subscription growth for all 50 states over the 17-year period. To measure the spread of new state policies, the State Policy Innovation and Diffusion Database (Boehmke et al. 2019) of thousands of policy adoptions from 1980 to 2016 is used. State governments have been the focus of research on policy innovation and diffusion because of their potential for promoting experimentation and change in the American federal system. This chapter demonstrates that inclusive information access through broadband is a resource for state innovation.

COVID-19 laid bare a persistent “digital divide” in both urban and rural communities at a time when access to education, work, health care, food, and government services relied on use of broadband or high-speed internet. A lifeline during the pandemic, broadband use is a fundamental resource for the future of opportunity in communities. Prior work has examined impacts for broadband infrastructure, but that indicates little about the extent to which local populations can afford and use the technology. With new data on broadband subscriptions from 2000 to 2017 and comprehensive analysis for states, counties, metros, cities, and neighborhoods, the authors argue that broadband use in the population is a form of digital human capital; like education, broadband use benefits communities as well as individuals. The evidence is compelling, with data over time that supports broadband’s causal impact across all types of communities, for economic prosperity, growth, income, employment, and policy innovation. Yet there are urban neighborhoods and rural counties where as little as one-quarter of the population has a broadband subscription, even when mobile is included. As “smart” cities and communities are built, employing artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things; as economies and jobs continue to experience rapid change; and as more information and services migrate online, it is communities with widespread broadband use that will be best positioned for inclusive innovation, with the digital human capital to thrive.

Metropolitan regions are the backbone of the national economy, and while some metros boast robust economic environments, others have languished or are struggling to regain their footing after years of disinvestment. With broadband subscription data for the 50 largest metros for 2000–2017, this chapter provides strong support for the causal power of broadband to shape local opportunity. Using measures from the Brookings Metro Monitor, the chapter finds evidence that broadband subscriptions significantly predict prosperity over years and across multiple models. Broadband use also decreases unemployment and is related to measures of growth. Metros where broadband is combined with more millennials or higher levels of information technology employment fare best, though the significance of information technology employment has decreased over time.

This chapter offers a comprehensive view of broadband subscriptions and economic impacts across all counties, urban, suburban, and rural. Using 2017 data, the first available for all counties in the United States, this chapter explores how broadband subscriptions are related to prosperity, median income, and recovery from the 2008 recession. These findings are further tested for causal effects with two-stage models, time series analysis for larger counties, and pooled models over time. Broadband subscriptions demonstrate significant benefits for counties, and comparison shows they are better predictors of community fortunes than traditional measures such as broadband provision.

This chapter introduces the need to understand the role of broadband use in inequalities and outcomes across communities in the United States. Research on rising place-based inequality has not accounted for differences in technology use and how it affects communities. Prior work on broadband is incomplete, measuring whether broadband is available but not the extent to which local residents are able to afford or use the technology. This chapter draws on nearly two decades of new data on broadband subscriptions for counties and metros, from 2000 to 2017, and explores the idea of inclusive broadband use in communities as a form of digital human capital promoting local economic development and prosperity.

There is substantial evidence indicating that the NRA’s (National Rifle Association) political influence is closely tied to the deep political engagement of the minority of Americans who oppose str...

This chapter lays out a framework for answering why supporters of gun rights are so dedicated to their cause and why the National Rifle Association (NRA) and its members have such an important place in the Republican Party. It discusses how the NRA has crafted a worldview around guns, consisting of both a gun owner social identity and a broader political ideology. The chapter then looks into greater detail about each of these central ideas: the ideational resources of identity and ideology, and the party–group alignment that has been so central to the NRA's more recent political power. The chapter ends by circling back to the previous chapter's discussion of political power, exploring what the NRA can teach us about how power is built and exercised.

This chapter employs the same American Rifleman editorials and gun control-related letters to explain how the National Rifle Association (NRA) has created a gun-centric political ideology, in which gun rights are central to a broader set of issue positions, and thus how gun rights became so closely related to contemporary conservatism in the United States. For many gun owners, gun rights stand at the center of a broader political ideology that embraces liberty, nationalism, limited government, and law and order. The chapter addresses the roots of this ideology and its relation to the gun owner identity by examining NRA's decades-long efforts to build an ideology around gun rights. Working in conjunction with its group identity, the NRA's ideology comprises the second stream of the gun-centric worldview it has used to advance gun rights. This group ideology increases the political unity of gun rights supporters — they are similar not just in their shared support for gun rights, but also along a broader range of issue positions and values. In connecting gun rights to other issues, the chapter unveils how ideology linked the gun owner identity to other politically relevant identities, strengthening each.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) is one of the most powerful interest groups in America, and has consistently managed to defeat or weaken proposed gun regulations — even despite widespread public support for stricter laws and the prevalence of mass shootings and gun-related deaths. This book provides an unprecedented look at how this controversial organization built its political power and deploys it on behalf of its pro-gun agenda. Taking readers from the 1930s to the age of Donald Trump, the book traces how the NRA's immense influence on national politics arises from its ability to shape the political outlooks and actions of its followers. The book draws on nearly a century of archival records and surveys to show how the organization has fashioned a distinct worldview around gun ownership and has used it to mobilize its supporters. It reveals how the NRA's cultivation of a large, unified, and active base has enabled it to build a resilient alliance with the Republican Party, and examines why the NRA and its members formed an important constituency that helped fuel Trump's unlikely political rise. The book sheds vital new light on how the NRA has grown powerful by mobilizing average Americans, and how it uses its GOP alliance to advance its objectives and shape the national agenda.