A statistical model for legislative roll call analysis†

I thank Peter H. Aranson, James D. Laing, Peter C. Ordeshook, and Howard Rosenthal for their helpful comments at various stages of this research.

This paper addresses the problem of using roll call voting data to ascertain the ideal points of legislators in a multi‐dimensional space. After identifying difficulties inherent in factor analytic studies of roll call data, I present a simple formal model of legislative voting that resolves these difficulties. Finally, I derive some implications of the model and use them to outline a technique for estimating legislators' ideal points.

Notes

I thank Peter H. Aranson, James D. Laing, Peter C. Ordeshook, and Howard Rosenthal for their helpful comments at various stages of this research.