The density of state interest-communities: Do regional variables matter?

To better understand state interest-group politics, this study compares two approaches to understanding the density of their interest communities. The first approach - Gray and Lowery's energy, stability, area model of density - emphasizes a small set of political and economic variables operative within each state in accounting for density. The second, of which there are several examples, emphasizes a regional level of analysis. The two approaches are evaluated as both independent and complementary accounts of state interest-community density using 1990 state lobby-registration data. Although some evidence of modest underspecification in the Gray and Lowery model is found, regional or spatially based variables only have a small impact on the density of state interest-communities.