The Politics of Attention

How Government Prioritizes Problems

Bryan D. Jones and Frank R. Baumgartner
University of Chicago Press, 2005

  • Download a computer program written by Professor Jim Stimson of the University of North Carolina that allows users to simulate the friction-based decision model that we present in the article above and in Chapter 6 of The Politics of Attention. The simulation program allows users to specify various parameters so that they can see for themselves the impact of various levels of friction, threshold effects, and other characteristics of the model.
  • View a dynamic gif showing a series of pie charts illustrating the increased diversity of attention in Congress. The charts, from the Policy Agendas Project, show the proportion of hearings in Congress from the 80th Congress (1947-48) to the 105th (1997-98) across 19 different topics of attention. These are the same data used in Baumgartner and Jones 2000 Journal of Politics article entitled "The Evolution of Legislative Jurisdictions." They show dramatically how more diverse congressional attention has grown over the past several decades. (Note: the gif will show a pie chart for each Congress from the 80th to the 105th at 2 second intervals, then begin again.)
  • See a PowerPoint presentation of part of the analysis from The Politics of Attention from June 2005 (Presentation at the Centre de Sociologie des Organisations [CNRS-CSO], Paris.)