{"413031":{"#nid":"413031","#data":{"type":"external_news","title":"The Reciprocity Phenomena in Congress Co-sponsored Bills","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EProfessor and chair of Economics \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.iac.gatech.edu\/faculty-and-staff\/faculty\/bio\/laband\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EDavid N. Laband\u003C\/a\u003E studies the phenomena of co-sponsorships on congressional bills. In general, members of Congress believe that the number of names signed on a bill increases its chance of advancement. This practice of co-sponsorship eliminates the problem of bill duplication and also has fostered a sense of teamwork. On the negative side, it also creates this mentality of obligation through signing each other\u0027s bills: \u0022I\u0027ll sign your bill if you sign mine.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;Laband argues that who signs the bill matters more than the quantity.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn fact, most heavily co-sponsored legislation doesn\u2019t advance. \u201cThis raises the interesting question of why individuals co-sponsor bills they know with virtual certainty will go nowhere,\u201d Laband said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOverall, Laband claims that it is more likely to see only a few co-sponsors on a bill. It is extremely rare for a bill to appear with more than a hundred signatures.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/politics\/articles\/2015-06-10\/democrats-lead-the-way-in-co-sponsorship-of-colleagues-bills\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EContinue to full article...\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E David N. Laband received his Ph.D. in economics from Virginia Tech in 1981. He is the author of 9 books and over 130 articles in peer-reviewed journals. His research and teaching interests cover a wide range of topics related to economics and policy.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27498","created_gmt":"2015-06-10 12:00:47","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 02:27:35","author":"Rachel Miles","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","publication":"kent","field_article_url":"","publication_url":"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/politics\/articles\/2015-06-10\/democrats-lead-the-way-in-co-sponsorship-of-colleagues-bills","dateline":{"date":"2015-06-10T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2015-06-10T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"405801":{"id":"405801","type":"image","title":"David N. Laband","body":null,"created":"1449254153","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 18:35:53","changed":"1475895129","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:52:09","alt":"David N. Laband","file":{"fid":"76106","name":"davidlabandweb.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/davidlabandweb.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/davidlabandweb.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":141281,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/davidlabandweb.jpg?itok=-m2NBwon"}}},"media_ids":["405801"],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1282","name":"School of Economics"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"128531","name":"co-sponsored bills"},{"id":"346","name":"congress"},{"id":"33411","name":"David Laband"},{"id":"128541","name":"David N. Laband"},{"id":"602","name":"economics"},{"id":"10231","name":"Washington D.C."}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}