The Diffusion of State-Level Antismoking Policies in a Federal System.

Studies of policy diffusion often focus on the spread of enactments from state to state with little emphasis on the role of the federal government and no analysis of whether policies bubble up from localities. For example, to date, scholars have not yet tested whether local policy adoptions make state action more likely (through a snowball effect) or less likely (through a pressure valve effect). This study conducts the first comprehensive analysis of the diffusion process in the three-level American federal system. Focusing on three different types of state-level antismoking adoptions, we find a robust system of diffusion up from localities, across states, and down from the federal government. This diffusion process varies in understandable ways across policy areas. Moreover, whether policy adoption is likely depends on the critical role of health advocates in orchestrating such diffusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]