Abstract
Two candidates compete for elective office. Each candidate has information she would like to reveal to the voters, but this requires costly advertising. The candidates can solicit contributions from interest groups to finance such advertising. These contributions are secured by promises to perform favors for the contributors, should the candidate win the election. Voters understand this and elect the candidate they like best, taking into account their expectations about promises to special interests. There is an incumbency advantage in fundraising, which is sometimes so great that the incumbent faces no serious opposition at all. Introducing partial public financing through matching funds improves voter welfare in districts that have advertising under the decentralized system, while it can reduce welfare in other districts. The optimal policy must strike a balance between these two effects.
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Subject
Political Science and International Relations,Sociology and Political Science
Reference32 articles.
1. Gerber Alan .1996.“Rational Voters, Candidate Spending, and Incomplete Information: A Theoretical Analysis with Implications for Campaign Finance Reform.”ISPS Working Paper.
2. Austen-Smith David .1997.“Interest Groups: Money, Information, and Influence.”In Perspectives on Public Choice: A Handbook,ed. Dennis C. Mueller .New York:Cambridge University Press.
3. Prat Andrea .2000.“Campaign Spending with Office-Seeking Politicians, Rational Voters, and Multiple Lobbies.”Journal of Economic Theory 103 (March):162–89.
4. Gerber Alan S .2004.“Does Campaign Spending Work?: Field Experiments Provide Evidence and Suggest New Theory.”American Behavioral Scientist 47 (January):541–74.
5. Ashworth Scott .2005.“Reputational Dynamics and Political Careers.”Journal of Law, Economics and Organization 21 (October):441–66.
Cited by
89 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献，注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献，订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献
1. Formal Theories of Special Interest Influence;Annual Review of Political Science;2024-07-29
2. A Theory of Small Campaign Contributions;The Economic Journal;2024-03-22
3. Dark Money and Politician Learning;SSRN Electronic Journal;2023
4. Lobbying in the United States;Studies in Public Choice;2023
5. Lobbyismus in den USA;Handbuch Lobbyismus;2023