Publications by Year: 1996

1996
Advantages of Conflictual Redistricting
Andrew Gelman and Gary King. 1996. “Advantages of Conflictual Redistricting.” In Fixing the Boundary: Defining and Redefining Single-Member Electoral Districts, edited by Iain McLean and David Butler, Pp. 207–218. Aldershot, England: Dartmouth Publishing Company.Abstract
This article describes the results of an analysis we did of state legislative elections in the United States, where each state is required to redraw the boundaries of its state legislative districts every ten years. In the United States, redistrictings are sometimes controlled by the Democrats, sometimes by the Republicans, and sometimes by bipartisan committees, but never by neutral boundary commissions. Our goal was to study the consequences of redistricting and at the conclusion of this article, we discuss how our findings might be relevant to British elections.
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The Generalization in the Generalized Event Count Model, With Comments on Achen, Amato, and Londregan
Gary King and Curtis S Signorino. 1996. “The Generalization in the Generalized Event Count Model, With Comments on Achen, Amato, and Londregan.” Political Analysis, 6, Pp. 225–252.Abstract
We use an analogy with the normal distribution and linear regression to demonstrate the need for the Generalize Event Count (GEC) model. We then show how the GEC provides a unified framework within which to understand a diversity of distributions used to model event counts, and how to express the model in one simple equation. Finally, we address the points made by Christopher Achen, Timothy Amato, and John Londregan. Amato's and Londregan's arguments are consistent with ours and provide additional interesting information and explanations. Unfortunately, the foundation on which Achen built his paper turns out to be incorrect, rendering all his novel claims about the GEC false (or in some cases irrelevant).
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Kenneth Benoit and Gary King. 1996. “A Preview of EI and EzI: Programs for Ecological Inference.” Social Science Computer Review, 14, Pp. 433–438.Abstract
Ecological inference, as traditionally defined, is the process of using aggregate (i.e., "ecological") data to infer discrete individual-level relationships of interest when individual-level data are not available. Existing methods of ecological inference generate very inaccurate conclusions about the empirical world- which thus gives rise to the ecological inference problem. Most scholars who analyze aggregate data routinely encounter some form of this problem. EI (by Gary King) and EzI (by Kenneth Benoit and Gary King) are freely available software that implement the statistical and graphical methods detailed in Gary King’s book A Solution to the Ecological Inference Problem. These methods make it possible to infer the attributes of individual behavior from aggregate data. EI works within the statistics program Gauss and will run on any computer hardware and operating system that runs Gauss (the Gauss module, CML, or constrained maximum likelihood- by Ronald J. Schoenberg- is also required). EzI is a menu-oriented stand-alone version of the program that runs under MS-DOS (and soon Windows 95, OS/2, and HP-UNIX). EI allows users to make ecological inferences as part of the powerful and open Gauss statistical environment. In contrast, EzI requires no additional software, and provides an attractive menu-based user interface for non-Gauss users, although it lacks the flexibility afforded by the Gauss version. Both programs presume that the user has read or is familiar with A Solution to the Ecological Inference Problem.
Racial Fairness in Legislative Redistricting
Gary King, John Bruce, and Andrew Gelman. 1996. “Racial Fairness in Legislative Redistricting.” In Classifying by Race, edited by Paul E Peterson, Pp. 85-110. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Abstract
In this chapter, we study standards of racial fairness in legislative redistricting- a field that has been the subject of considerable legislation, jurisprudence, and advocacy, but very little serious academic scholarship. We attempt to elucidate how basic concepts about "color-blind" societies, and similar normative preferences, can generate specific practical standards for racial fairness in representation and redistricting. We also provide the normative and theoretical foundations on which concepts such as proportional representation rest, in order to give existing preferences of many in the literature a firmer analytical foundation.
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Gary King. 1996. “Why Context Should Not Count.” Political Geography, 15, Pp. 159–164.Abstract

This paper is an invited comment on a paper by John Agnew. I largely agree with Agnew’s comments and thus focus on remaining areas wehre an alternative perspective might be useful. My argument is that political geographers should not be so concerned with demonstrating that context matters. My reasoning is based on three arguments. First, in fact context rarely counts (Section 1) and, second, the most productive practical goal for political researchers should be to show that it does not count (Section 2). Finally, a disproportionate focus on ‘context counting’ can lead, and has led, to some seriosu problems in practical research situations, such as attempting to give theoretical answers to empirical questions (Section 3) and empirical answers to theoretical questions (Section 4).

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