Abstract
We analyze the dynamics of growth of the number of congressmen supporting the resolution HR1207 to audit the Federal Reserve. The plot of the total number of cosponsors as a function of time is of the “Devil's staircase” type. The distribution of the numbers of new cosponsors joining during a particular day (step height) follows a power law. The distribution of the length of intervals between additions of new cosponsors (step length) also follows a power law. We use a modification of Bak-Tang-Wiesenfeld sandpile model to simulate the dynamics of Congress and obtain good agreement with the data.
Notes
1We use this simplistic model because of a lack of available data on the influence network among the members of Congress. We could investigate a more realistic influence network process given such data.