Resource: Taking Three Small Steps Forward in the Journey of Innovation and Diffusion Study

The aim of this dissertation is to fill in the vacant spots in the innovation and diffusion study, which are meaningful but have not had much work done previously. Most policy diffusion studies have focused on the adoption of a new policy. However, the diffusion of the repeal of an old policy also occurs across organizations and governments. Thus, the first essay in this dissertation, diffusion of the repeal of a state prevailing wage law, contributes to enrich the theoretical development of policy innovation and diffusion from a different angle, and help us learn more about why governments terminate established policies. The economists have provided economic justifications about why state prevailing wage law should be upheld or abolished depending on their stances. However, the empirical result shows that economic justification is not the most persuasive reason. In other words, other factors are also influential in the repeal of prevailing wage law: regional diffusion, political ideology, union power, socio-economic conditions, minimum wage law and so on. This result accords with the arguments of previous policy termination literatures.