The Impact of Ethics Laws on Legislative Recruitment and the Occupational Composition of State Legislatures

Abstract

Over the past half-century, ethics laws have proliferated at the federal, state, and local levels, yet their effects are not well understood. Critics of ethics laws have charged that financial disclosure requirements and restrictions on outside income deter individuals from pursuing public service. However, empirical testing of this claim has been lacking. This study examines the impact of substantive ethics restrictions and disclosure laws on state legislative recruitment in the 1990s and on the changing occupational composition of state legislatures between 1976 and 1995. Ethics laws are found to have several effects on the decision to run and on the occupations represented. I suggest that these effects are not necessarily all negative.