'A Single Courageous State': A study of the Diffusion of Science and Technology Policy Innovations Among States.

摘要

This dissertation examines the effects of demographic, economic, and political variables on states' decision to adopt science and technology policy innovations. By exploring the effects of a range of variables (income, legislative control and professionalism, gubernatorial power, postsecondary education attainment and governance structure, and EPSCoR participation) on the diffusion of state science and technology policy innovations (strategic plans, councils, and cooperative technology programs), this dissertation makes an original contribution to the limited literature on state science and technology policy, as well as the more extensive literature on innovation diffusion. This dissertation employs event history analysis (EHA) as its primary research strategy, following the examples of the leading policy diffusion studies. Using EHA, this dissertation examines the relationship between the timing of the transition of entities from one condition to another and the factors--and the variation in these factors over time--that affect the timing of that transition.