We know relatively little about the conditions that encourage people to jump into the political fray as policy entrepreneurs, advocates who devote substantial time, energy, and resources to campaigning for a policy goal. This paper aims to fill that gap by investigating the catalysts of policy entrepreneurship in municipalities across the State of New York, where between 2008 and 2012, hundreds of local jurisdictions passed measures opposing or supporting high-volume hydraulic fracturing (fracking). These local policy actions were often enthusiastically encouraged and, in some cases, vociferously opposed, by enterprising advocates. I propose a threat-centered theory of policy entrepreneurship, emphasizing the role of loss aversion in pushing actors toward advocacy. The empirical analysis shows that oppositional advocacy within a polity draws would-be policy entrepreneurs into battle.

我们对鼓励人们作为政策企业家、为政策目标投入大量时间、精力和资源的倡导者加入政治斗争的条件知之甚少。本文旨在通过调查纽约州各城市政策创业的催化剂来填补这一空白，在 2008 年至 2012 年期间，数百个地方司法管辖区通过了反对或支持大容量水力压裂（水力压裂）的措施。这些地方政策行动常常受到有进取心的倡导者的热情​​鼓励，在某些情况下遭到强烈反对。我提出了一种以威胁为中心的政策创业理论，强调了损失厌恶在推动行动者进行倡导方面的作用。