Despite the centrality of the median voter prediction in political economy models, overwhelming empirical evidence shows that legislators regularly take positions that diverge significantly from the preferences of the median voter in their districts. However, all these empirical studies to date...

In standard spatial models of elections, parties with policy preferences take divergent positions. Their platform positions are less separated than are the parties' ideal policies. If policy is the result of an executive--legislative compromise, the policy preferences of the parties can be...