Replication Data for: Complexity, Resources, and Text Borrowing in State Legislatures

Do states copy or reinvent language from complex policies as they diffuse, and does this depend on legislative resources? We argue that states will more frequently reinvent more complex policies, but that states with high-resource legislatures will reinvent more than their low-resource counterparts for more complex policies. We test the theory using the bill texts from 18 policies that diffused across the 50 states from 1983-2014, measuring reinvention and complexity using text analysis tools. In line with expectations, we find that complex policies are reinvented more than simple policies and that high-resource legislatures reinvent bills more than low-resource legislatures on average. However, we also find that low-resource legislatures reinvent complex policies at about the same rate as high-resource legislatures. The results indicate that even legislatures with limited resources work to adapt complex policies during the diffusion process.各州在复杂政策扩散进程中，究竟是照搬相关政策的既有文本表述，还是对其进行重构？这一过程是否受到立法资源禀赋的影响？本文提出理论主张：各州更倾向于对复杂度更高的政策开展重构；而就复杂政策而言，立法资源充裕的州相较于资源匮乏的州，政策再造的频率更高。为检验该理论，本文采用1983年至2014年间在美国50个州间扩散的18项政策的法案文本作为研究数据，并借助文本分析工具量化政策再造程度与政策复杂度。研究结果部分契合预期：相较于简单政策，复杂政策的再造频次显著更高；平均而言，立法资源充裕的州的法案再造频率高于资源匮乏的州。但本文同时发现，资源匮乏的州对复杂政策的再造速率，与资源充裕的州大致相当。上述结果表明，即便立法资源有限的州，也会在政策扩散过程中积极适配复杂政策。