This paper presents an empirical assessment of how legislative institutions aggregate policy interests and shape legislative outcomes. Two aspects of institutional design stand in the center of the analysis: the rules that govern changes of the legislative status quo and the rules that govern agenda-setting. The paper focusses on standard concepts from game theory on legislative decision making and agenda control, and shows how they can be used in quantitative empirical research to map policy interests and the policy implications of legislative institutions. An application to the European Union and its reforms between 1981 and 2009 in 9 different policy areas and its legislative procedures concludes the analysis.
