Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
Several recent papers in the public choice literature suggest that legislators shirk, or vote in a manner contrary to constituent interest. This paper explores the relationship between senatorial shirking and electoral consequences. I model political shirking, opponent quality and election outcomes as simultaneous, and find significant evidence of a relationship between shirking over the senatorial term and electoral outcomes. However, I find that voters punish recent shirking much more than they punish early-term shirking, and that senators apparently act consistently with this relationship. Copyright 2000 by Kluwer Academic Publishers