Competitive general elections can mean more productive legislators, but only up to a point

The public's levels of trust and confidence in Congress have been at rock bottom for the best part of a decade, something which may be related to the perception that lawmakers do very little whilst they are in Washington DC. But can the threat of a competitive election or a primary challenge spur a lawmaker to be more productive? Analyzing legislative effectiveness and electoral pressure, Michael J. Barber and Soren J. Schmidt find that while the safer a legislator is from a primary challenger, the more effective they are, general election challenges result in an effectiveness ‘sweet spot’. After this point, legislating becomes less effective as lawmakers need to switch resources away from lawmaking and towards campaigning.