Does divided government make it harder for to get business done?  Conventional wisdom says yes. (See our January commentaries by Norm Ornstein and Jared Diamond.)  In the current issue of Governance,  Frank Baumgartner, Sylvain Brouard, Emiliano Grossman, Sebastien Lazardeux, and Jonathan Moody have a more nuanced view.  Looking at decades of legislative activity in the United States and France, the authors do find that divided government is likely to result in fewer pieces of major legislation.  But it has no impact on overall legislative productivity.  Routine functions and sudden crises are dealt with.  "Whatever the partisan or institutional configuration, whatever the setting (USA or France)," the authors conclude, "governments govern."  Read the article.