The Role of Party Affiliation, Lobbying, and Electoral Incentives in Decentralized US State Support of the Environment

This article investigates the influence of lobbying, electoral incentives, and US state governors’ party affiliation on environmental expenditures. A theoretical framework is presented, emphasizing potential impact lobbying from interest groups policies. The major causal link for expenditures depends governor’s political preferences. Implementing a regression discontinuity design (RDD), we identify estimate effect governors level We test whether tend to deviate their own preferences when facing pressures polluting lobbies incentives organizations. empirical results reveal that, Democratic are in charge, are, average, higher. However, oil-abundant states, and/or states where industries economically important, politicians allocate fewer resources preservation, suggesting that pressure matters.