Hostname: page-component-55f67697df-2z2hb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-09T20:04:48.989Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Lobbying as Legislative Subsidy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2006

RICHARD L. HALL  and
ALAN V. DEARDORFF
RICHARD L. HALL
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
ALAN V. DEARDORFF
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Professional lobbyists are among the most experienced, knowledgeable, and strategic actors one can find in the everyday practice of politics. Nonetheless, their behavioral patterns often appear anomalous when viewed in the light of existing theories. We revisit these anomalies in search of an alternative theory. We model lobbying not as exchange (vote buying) or persuasion (informative signaling) but as a form of legislative subsidy—a matching grant of policy information, political intelligence, and legislative labor to the enterprises of strategically selected legislators. The proximate political objective of this strategy is not to change legislators' minds but to assist natural allies in achieving their own, coincident objectives. The theory is simple in form, realistic in its principal assumptions, and counterintuitive in its main implications. Empirically, the model renders otherwise anomalous regularities comprehensible and predictable. In a later section, we briefly bring preferences back in, examining the important but relatively uncommon conditions under which preference-centered lobbying should occur.

Type
ARTICLES
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 100 , Issue 1 , February 2006 , pp. 69 - 84
Copyright
© 2006 by the American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Ainsworth Scott H. 1997. “The Role of Legislators in the Determination of Interest Group Influence.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 22 (November): 517– 33.Google Scholar
Ainsworth Scott H. 2002. Analyzing Interest Groups. New York: Norton.
Arnold R. Douglas. 1990. The Logic of Congressional Action. New Haven: Yale Press.
Austen-Smith David. 1996. “Interest Groups: Money, Information and Influence.” In Perspectives on Public Choice, ed. Dennis Mueller. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Austen-Smith David, and John R. Wright. 1992. “Competitive Lobbying for a Legislator's Vote.” Social Choice and Welfare 9 (April): 229– 57.Google Scholar
Austen-Smith David, and John R. Wright. 1994. “Counteractive Lobbying.” American Journal of Political Science 38 (February): 25– 44.Google Scholar
Baldwin Robert E., and Christopher S. Magee. 2000. “Is Trade Policy for Sale? Congressional Voting on Recent Trade Bills.” Public Choice 105 (October): 79– 101.Google Scholar
Baumgartner Frank R., and Beth L. Leech. 1997. “Lobbying with Governmental Allies.” Presented at annual meetings of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL.
Baumgartner Frank R., and Beth L. Leech. 1998. Basic Interests: The Importance of Groups in Politics and in Political Science. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Baumgartner Frank R., and Beth L. Leech. 1999. “Business Advantage in the Washington Lobbying Community: Evidence from the 1996 Lobbying Disclosure Reports.” Presented at the annual meetings of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL.
Baumgartner Frank R., and Christine Mahoney. 2002. “Gaining Government Allies: Groups, Officials, and Alliance Behavior.” Presented at the Midwest Political Science Annual Meetings, Chicago.
Baumgartner Frank R., Jeffrey M. Berry, Marie Hojnacki, Beth Leech, and David Kimball. 2002. “Organized Interests and Issue Definition in Policy Debates.” In Interest Group Politics, 6th Edition, eds. Allan Cigler and Burdett Loomis. Washington, DC: CQ Press.
Bauer Raymond A., Ithiel de Sola Pool, and Lewis A. Dexter. 1963. American Business and Public Policy: The Politics of Foreign Trade. New York: Atherton Press.
Berry Jeffrey M. 1999. The New Liberalism: The Rising Power of Citizen Groups. Washington: Brookings Press.
Binder Sarah A., and Steven S. Smith. 1997. Politics or Principle? Washington DC: Brookings.
Brownars Stephen G., and John. R. Lott. 1997. “Do Campaign Donations Alter How a Politician Votes? Or, Do Donors Support Candidates Who Value the Same Things That They Do?” Journal of Law and Economics 40 (October): 317– 50.Google Scholar
Browne William P. 1995. Cultivating Congress: Constituencies, Issues, and Interests in Agricultural Policymaking Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Press.
Carpenter Daniel P. Kevin M. Esterling, and David M. J. Lazer. 1998. “The Strength of Weak Ties in Lobbying Networks.” Journal of Theoretical Politics 10 (October): 417– 44.Google Scholar
1993. Cox and McCubbins. Legislative Leviathan. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Denzau Arthur, and Michael Munger. 1986. “Legislators and Interest Groups: How Unorganized Interests Get Represented.” American Political Science Review 80 (February): 89– 106.Google Scholar
Dexter Lewis Anthony. 1969. How Organizations are Represented in Washington. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
Dion Douglas. 1998. Twisting the Legislative Thumbscrew. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Esterling Kevin M. 2004. The Political Economy of Expertise. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Etzioni Amitai. 1984. Capital Corruption: The New Attack on American Democracy. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich.
Evans C. Lawrence. 1989. “Influence in Congressional Committees.” In Congressional Politics. ed. Christopher C. Deering. Chicago: The Dorsey Press.
Evans C. Lawrence. 1991. Leadership in Committees. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Fenno Richard F. Jr., 1973. Congressmen in Committees. Boston: Little, Brown.
Goldstein Kenneth M. 1999. Interest Groups, Lobbying, and Participation in America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Grenzke Janet M. 1989a. “Shopping in the Congressional Supermarket: The Currency Is Complex.” American Journal of Political Science. 33 (February): 1– 24.Google Scholar
Grenzke Janet M. 1989b. “Candidate Attributes and PAC Contributions.” Western Political Quarterly 42 (June): 245– 64.Google Scholar
Grier Kevin B., and Michael C. Munger. 1986. “The Impact of Legislator Attributes on Interest Group Contributions.” Journal of Labor Research 7 (Spring): 349– 61.Google Scholar
Grier Kevin B., and Michael C. Munger. 1991. “Committee Assignments, Constituent Preferences, and Campaign Contributions.” Economic Inquiry 29 (February): 24– 43.Google Scholar
Hall Richard L. 1996. Participation in Congress. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Hall Richard L., and Frank Wayman. 1990. “Buying Time: Moneyed Interests and the Mobilization of Bias in Congressional Committees.” American Political Science Review. 84 (November): 797– 820.Google Scholar
Hansen John Mark. 1991. Gaining Access: Congress and the Farm Lobby, 1919–1981. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Helpman Elhanan, and Paul R. Krugman. 1985. Market Structure and Foreign Trade. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Hojnacki Marie, and David Kimball. 1998. “Organized Interests and the Decision of Whom to Lobby in Congress.” American Political Science Review 92 (November): 775– 90.Google Scholar
Hojnacki Marie, and David Kimball. 1999. “The Who and How of Organizations Lobbying Strategies in Committee.” Journal of Politics 61 (December): 999– 1024.Google Scholar
Jackson Brooks. 1988. Honest Graft. New York: Knopf.
Jones Bryan D. 2002. “Bounded rationality and public policy: Herbert A. Simon and the decisional foundation of collective choice.” Policy Sciences 35 (September): 269– 84.Google Scholar
Kingdon John W. 1989 [1973]. Congressmen's Voting Decisions. 3rd ed. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Kollman Ken. 1997. “Inviting Friends to Lobby: Interest Groups, Ideological Bias, and Congressional Committees.” American Journal of Political Science. 41 (April): 519– 544.Google Scholar
Kollman Ken. 1998. Outside Lobbying. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Kuhn Thomas. 1962. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lewis Charles. 1998. The Buying of Congress. New York: Avon Books.
Lowi Theodore. 1969. The End of Liberalism. New York: Norton.
Matthews Donald R. 1960 (1973). U.S. Senators and Their World. New York: Norton.
McCarty Nolan, and Lawrence Rothenberg. 1996. “Commitment and the Campaign Contributions Contract.” American Journal of Political Science 40 (November): 872– 904.Google Scholar
McConnell Grant. 1966. Private Power and American Democracy. New York: Knopf.
McKissick Gary J. 1995. “Interests, Issues, and Emphases: Lobbying Congress and the Strategic Manipulation of Issue Dimensions.” Presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL.
Milbrath Lester. 1963. The Washington Lobbyists. Chicago: Rand McNally.
Morton Rebecca, and Charles Cameron. 1992. “Elections and the Theory of Campaign Contributions: A Survey and Critical Analysis.” Economics and Politics 4 (March): 79– 108.Google Scholar
Potters Jan, and Frans van Winden. 1996. “Models of Interest Groups: Four Different Approaches.” In Collective Decision-Making. ed. Norman Schofield. Boston: Kluwer.
Rothenberg Lawrence. 1992. Linking Citizens to Government: Interest Group Politics at Common Cause. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Salisbury Robert H., and Kenneth A. Shepsle. 1981. “U.S. Congressman as Enterprise.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 4 (November): 559– 76.Google Scholar
Schlozman Kay, and John Tierney. 1986. Organized Interests in American Democracy. New York: Harper and Row.
Shepsle Kenneth A. 1978. The Giant Jigsaw Puzzle: Committee Assignments in the Modern House. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Shepsle Kenneth A., and Barry R. Weingast. 1987. “The Institutional Foundations of Committee Power.” American Political Science Review 81 (March): 85– 104.Google Scholar
Sinclair Barbara. 1989. The Transformation of the U.S. Senate. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins.
Smith Richard A. 1995. “Interest Group Influence in the U.S. Congress.” Legislative Studies Quarterly (February) 20: 89– 139.Google Scholar
Snyder James. 1992. “Long-Term Investing in Politicians; or, Give Early, Give Often.” Journal of Law & Economics 35 (April): 15– 43.Google Scholar
Stigler George. 1970. “Theory of Regulation.” Bell Journal (Spring): 3– 21.Google Scholar
Stratmann Thomas. 1992. “Are Contributors Rational: Untangling Strategies of Political Action Committees.” Journal of Political Economy 100 (June): 647– 64.Google Scholar
Stratmann Thomas. 1998. “The Market for Congressional Votes: Is Timing of Contributions Everything?” Journal of Law and Economics 41 (April): 85– 113.Google Scholar
Thompson Dennis F. 1995. Ethics in Congress. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
Varian Hal R. 1992. Microeconomic Analysis. 3rd edition. New York: Norton.
Wawro Gregory. 2000. Legislative Entrepreneurship in the U.S. House of Representatives. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Wawro Gregory. 2001. “A Panel Probit Analysis of Campaign Contributions and Roll-Call Votes.” American Journal of Political Science 45 (July): 563– 79.Google Scholar
Welch William P. 1982. “Campaign Contributions and Legislative Voting: Milk Money and Dairy Price Supports.” Western Political Quarterly (December) 35: 478– 95.Google Scholar
Whiteman David. 1995. Communication in Congress. Lawrence: Kansas University Press.
Wright John R. 1990. “Contributions, Lobbying, and Committee Voting in the U.S. House of Representatives American Journal of Political Science Review (May) 34: 417– 38.Google Scholar
Wright John R. 1996. Interest Groups and Congress. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Zeigler Harmon. 1964. Interest Groups in American Society. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.