For the Many or the Few
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A01=John G. Matsusaka
academic
action
activisim
activist
america
Author_John G. Matsusaka
Category=JPHV
Category=JPQB
citizen
data
democratic
demographic
election
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
evidence
expenditure
government
higher education
historical
history
influence
law
legal
local
official
policies
political
referendum
research
scholarly
social studies
special interest
state
tax
unbiased
united states
usa
wealth
Product details
- ISBN 9780226510828
- Weight: 340g
- Dimensions: 16 x 23mm
- Publication Date: 01 Apr 2008
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Direct democracy continues to grow in importance throughout the United States. Citizens are increasingly using initiatives and referendums to take the law into their own hands, overriding their elected officials to set tax, expenditure, and social policies. John G. Matsusaka's "For the Many or the Few" studies a century of budget data from states and cities to provide the first comprehensive, empirical picture of how direct democracy is changing government policies.Matsusaka argues against the popular belief that initiatives empower wealthy special interest groups that neglect the majority view. Examining demographic, political, and opinion data, he demonstrates how initiatives led to significant tax and expenditure cuts over the last thirty years and that these cuts were supported by a majority of citizens. He concludes that, by and large, direct democracy in the United States has worked for the benefit of the many rather than the few.
John G. Matsusaka is a professor in the Marshall School of Business, Gould School of Law, and in the Department of Political Science at the University of Southern California. He is also president of the Initiative Referendum Institute.
