Policy Diffusion and the Pro-innovation Bias

Andrew Karch, Sean Nicholson‐Crotty, Neal D. Woods, Ann O’M. Bowman · 2016 · Political Research Quarterly

Summary. This paper examines policy diffusion across U.S. states using interstate compacts as a case study. The authors find that existing diffusion research focuses only on widely adopted policies, creating a bias that distorts findings. By analyzing all interstate compacts with variable adoption rates, they show this bias leads researchers to overestimate geographic and policy factors while underestimating professional networks and learning from prior adoptions.

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Karch, A., Nicholson‐Crotty, S., Woods, N. D., & Bowman, A. O.. (2016). Policy Diffusion and the Pro-innovation Bias. Political Research Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912915622289

@article{karch-2016-policy-diffusion-pro-innovation-bias,
  title   = {Policy Diffusion and the Pro-innovation Bias},
  author  = {Andrew Karch and Sean Nicholson‐Crotty and Neal D. Woods and Ann O’M. Bowman},
  journal = {Political Research Quarterly},
  year    = {2016},
  doi     = {10.1177/1065912915622289},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912915622289}
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Policy Diffusion and the Pro-innovation Bias
AU  - Andrew Karch
AU  - Sean Nicholson‐Crotty
AU  - Neal D. Woods
AU  - Ann O’M. Bowman
JO  - Political Research Quarterly
PY  - 2016
DO  - 10.1177/1065912915622289
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Details

DOI: 10.1177/1065912915622289
Countries: United States
Regions: North America
Categories: policy, innovation-theory, general-innovation
Added: 2026-04-28