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This article aims to extend the political market framework by exploring whether policy demand or supply is the key consideration for local governments' policymaking and under what financial conditions local governments favor one over the other. We expect that local governments with good fiscal conditions are more likely to respond to public demand, but local governments with poor fiscal conditions pay more attention to supply influences. To test this idea, this study examines the moderating role of fiscal conditions within the political market framework regarding what factors account for adopting local governments' Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) recycling programs in solid waste management (SWM). The results of the fixed-effect logistic model support that fiscal conditions play a moderating role in shifting organizational attention on the supply side based on cross-section data covering 1,840 local governments in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper updates and extends the Political Market Framework (PMF) by integrating elements of interest groups and political market theory with policy entrepreneurs' (PEs) roles in explaining the patterns of urban infrastructure construction. The prominent role of PEs is observed through a grounded analysis of two large infrastructure projects in Mexico City. A comparative study of the cases suggests that: (1) The agency of PEs in political markets is central to explaining the construction of urban infrastructure; (2) PEs contribute to the definition of pro-growth or anti-growth coalitions and the definition of public problems; (3) the legitimacy of PEs is grounded in their political or technical reputation, or both; (4) the appropriate use of political institutions requires that PEs know how to use electoral timing strategically; and (5) the role of PEs seems to be better understood within a bounded analysis framework, such as the political markets approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the actions and the factors driving those actions to reduce energy consumption and enhance energy efficiency taken by United States cities. While not much empirical evidence is available on why governments pursue practical sustainability actions, we attempt to shed more light on this important topic by empirically identifying factors that contribute to concrete actions toward sustainability policies. We adopt political market theory as a basic theoretical framework with policy-making applied to city energy consumption. Using the 2010 ICMA (local government sustainability policies and program) data, this study expands the focus of analyses to evaluate the effect of the form of government on energy consumption and energy efficiency by using multiple regression analysis. The findings show that at the city level, the mayor- council form of government are negatively associated with governments’ efforts to reduce energy consumption. However, cities with at-large elections and municipal ownership are more likely to adopt sustainability actions. We also find that a large-scale economy has significant effects on the effort to reduce city energy consumption and improve energy efficiency. This shows that environmental policies are directly connected to locally relevant affairs, including housing, energy use, green transportation, and water. Thus, local level administrators could take an executive role to protect the environment, encourage the development of alternative energy, and reduce the use of fossil fuel and coal energy. These efforts can lead to important environmental ramifications and relevant actions by municipal governments.

Complicated political situation still plagues charter schools despite their innovative education. Nevertheless, they experienced growth around 2011, yet only a few studies have explored why they had expanded from the political viewpoints. Therefore, using political institutions and political market framework, this study investigated the relationship between political institutions and charter school growth in the US(United States). To do so, this study conducted multiple regression analyses of school growth measured by the number of schools allowed, implementation points, and guaranteed funding. The findings revealed that only governors' partisanship has a significant influence on the number of schools. Moreover, supportive privatization organizations, governors' partisanship, and per capita income affects implementation points. Meanwhile, regarding guaranteed fiscal funding for the charter schools, the teachers' union enrollment rate, governors' partisanship, and per capita income are crucially influential. Finally, the results confirmed that political institutions are also important for education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because it focuses on the moderating role of political institutions – which emphasize equilibrium policy outcomes under different institutional arrangements derived from the interaction of policy supply and demand – the political market framework provides useful insights for analyzing the determinants of state long-term debt. Thus, different types of state political institutions should affect the degree of long-term debt in terms of specific demands and supply. Despite the numerous studies that have either applied the political market approach to local governments in policy areas or have analyzed the determinants of long-term debt from only a financial management perspective, few studies have applied the political market framework to state governments. Thus, adopting a state financial management perspective and conducting a panel data analysis using state data from 1980 to 2014, this study identifies the reasons why state governments act on long-term obligations in terms of the political market framework. This study also aims to expand the application of the political market framework to state governments and to integrate determinants of state long-term indebtedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the political market framework, this panel analysis examines the effects of democratic institutions on government size in Florida's 67 counties from 1998 to 2007. Regarding group demand, the study suggests that unemployment rate reduces county government expenditures and revenues. Regarding elite's preferences, Democratic elite's preferences reduce expenditures and revenues. With regard to mass support, citizen income has a positive influence on expenditures and revenues. On the other hand, Democratic ideology reduces both expenditures and revenues. Finally, we found that county government structure influences expenditures and revenues significantly, but home rule does not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]