Browsing by Author "Curry, Bret"
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
- Results Per Page
- Sort Options
Item Haphazard, Systematic, or Both? An Empirical Investigation of the US Attorney Firings in 2006(University of Chicago Press, 2018-10-22) Miller, Banks; Curry, Bret; Miller, BanksIn 2006, the Bush administration directed nine US attorneys to resign. This decision was a partial cause of the attorney general’s departure from the administration, and it prompted investigations and congressional hearings. Seen as largely ad hoc, we argue that theory predicts a more systematic decision-making process. We investigate this empirically and find, consistent with literature on principal-agent theories and bureaucracy, that performance on easily monitored metrics and adverse-selection concerns predict the firings. We explore the implications of these findings for efforts to centralize decision-making in the Department of Justice and to exert political control over US attorneys.