Does Private Money Buy Public Policy? Campaign Contributions and Regulatory Outcomes in Telecommunications
نویسندگان
چکیده
To what extent can market participants affect the outcomes of regulatory policy? In this paper, we study the effects of one potential source of influence – campaign contributions – from competing interests in the local telecommunications industry, on regulatory policy decisions of state public utility commissions. Using a unique new data set, we find, in contrast to much of the literature on campaign contributions, that there is a significant effect of private money on regulatory outcomes. Indeed, this result is robust to numerous alternative specifications and persists with instrumentation. We also assess the extent of omitted variable bias that would have to exist to obviate the estimated result. We find that for our result to be spurious, omitted variables would have to explain more than five times the variation in the mix of private money as is explained by the variables included in our analysis. We consider this to be very unlikely.
منابع مشابه
Addressing NCDs: Challenges From Industry Market Promotion and Interferences
Addressing the determinants of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is challenged by aggressive market promotion by tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food industries in emerging countries with fast economic development; and interference by these industries in government policies aimed at containing consumption of unhealthy products. This editorial reviews market promotion and industry interference and...
متن کاملPOLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM WITH PRIVATE OR/AND PUBLIC CAMPAIGN FINANCE: A COMPARISON OF INSTITUTIONS By
We propose a theory of party competition (two parties, single-issue) where citizens acquire party membership by contributing money to a party, and where a members influence on the policy taken by her party is proportional to her campaign contribution. The polity consists of informed and uninformed voters: only informed voters join parties, and the party campaign chest, the sum of its received ...
متن کاملNCD Prevention and Control: Sustainable and Comprehensive Solutions; A Response to Recent Commentaries
متن کامل
Understanding the Role of Public Administration in Implementing Action on the Social Determinants of Health and Health Inequities
Many of the societal level factors that affect health – the ‘social determinants of health (SDH)’ – exist outside the health sector, across diverse portfolios of government, and other major institutions including non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the private sector. This has created growing interest in how to create and implement public policies which will drive better and fairer health...
متن کاملHelping Friends or Influencing Foes: Electoral and Policy Effects of Campaign Finance Contributions
Campaign finance contributions may influence policy by affecting elections or by influencing the choices of politicians once in office. We study the trade-offs between these two paths to influence using a game in which contributions may affect electoral outcomes and signal policy-relevant information to politicians. In the model, an interest group and two politicians each possess private inform...
متن کامل