| Studies of legislative institutions often posit that the choice of institutional rules, procedures, and norms of behavior can be attributed to members' shared reelection goal. But what happens to these institutions when the electoral connection is severed by legislative term limits? This dissertation traces the changes in legislative structure that have resulted from term limits and examines the effects of these changes on the policy-making process and policy outcomes. Using fiscal data from the 48 contiguous states from 1977 to 2001, I find that states with term limits make fundamentally different economic policy choices than states without term limits. |
