We investigate whether the decision to experiment with novel policies is influenced by electoral incentives. Our empirical setting is the U.S. welfare reform in 1996, which marked the most dramatic shift in social policy since the New Deal. We find that electoral incentives matter: governors...

Wirtschaft ist ohne Wachstum undenkbar: Unternehmen wollen ihre Gewinne steigern, Anteilseigner ihre Aktienkurse, ganze Volkswirtschaften ihr Bruttoinlandsprodukt. Wer nicht wächst, stirbt, so scheint es. Doch diese Sicht wird zunehmend in Frage gestellt. Immer mehr Wachstumskritiker fordern...

We investigate whether the decision to experiment with novel policies is influenced by electoral incentives. Our empirical setting is the U.S. welfare reform in 1996, which marked the most dramatic shift in social policy since the New Deal. We find that electoral incentives matter: governors...