Legislative Scholars Should Study Extralegislative Outcomes

Examining total government spending, she finds that coalitions agree to spend more than their single party counterparts, and, further, that the number of ministers with portfolio is unrelated to spending, which refines our understanding of the organizational strength of parties in African legislatures. As legislative scholars, we spend the majority of our efforts studying choices made within parliamentary chambers. These strengths offer great promise for pushing forward scientific research into the legislative roots of extralegislative outcomes - and vice versa - to broaden our collective understanding of those outcomes in particular and the implications of legislative choices and procedures more generally.