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A Naturally Occurring Quasi-Experiment in the States: Research on Term Limits in Michigan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

Shannon Orr
Affiliation:
Wayne State University in the department of political science.
Eric Rader
Affiliation:
Wayne State University in the department of political science.
Jean-Philippe Faletta
Affiliation:
University of Saint Thomas.
Marjorie Sarbaugh-Thompson
Affiliation:
Wayne State University and the Principal Investigator on the Term Limits Project.
Charles Elder
Affiliation:
Wayne State University.
Lyke Thompson
Affiliation:
Wayne State University in the College of Urban, Labor, and Metropolitan Affairs.
John Strate
Affiliation:
Wayne State University.
Richard Elling
Affiliation:
Wayne State University.

Abstract

Term limits provide a rare opportunity to employ pre- and post-intervention research designs to investigate the effects of turnover in legislatures. This article describes a study of term limits in Michigan that takes advantage of this opportunity. With eight states implementing term limits in 2002 or soon thereafter, there are opportunities for other scholars to replicate all or parts of the study described here. The payoffs for such projects in terms of generating systematic answers to the impacts of legislative turnover and term limits are considerable.

Type
The Practical Researcher
Copyright
Copyright © 2001 The American Political Science Association

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