Money in Politics

Carl Schmitt and the Origins of Friedrich Hayek’s Thought on Rent-Seeking

Friedrich Hayek viewed the subject of rent-seeking not from the usual welfare economics perspective, but from a constitutional economics perspective. In a new paper,...

Defense Contracts Are Going to the Best Connected, Not Necessarily the Best

In new research, Şenay Ağca and Deniz Igan use the shock of the September 11 attacks and declaration of war on Afghanistan to show...

Investing in Influence: Investors, Portfolio Firms, and Political Giving

A new paper examines the relationship between the rising concentration in institutional investors' ownership of publicly traded U.S. firms and portfolio companies' political giving....

Survey Highlights Backlash to Increasingly Political Corporate America

A recent poll shows that 71% of Americans view large companies negatively. The change has been driven by Republicans who dislike the rise of...

Corporations Are Not “We the People”

The Citizens United ruling contradicts the Founders, decades of Supreme Court precedent and the will of the American people. There is nothing in the text...

What Citizens United Did Not Predict and Why It’s Time To Reconsider

Citizens United v. FEC stands in the public eye as the U.S. Supreme Court case that flooded U.S. elections with “dark money” and SuperPACs....

Companies’ Diversity Commitments Conflict with Political Donations

Many US businesses that promote their workplaces as supportive of traditionally marginalized groups have created diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs for their employees....

Healthcare Companies Spent More on Lobbying Than Any Other Industry Last Year

Threatened by regulated price caps from congress, the pharmaceutical industry spent nearly $390 million on lobbying in 2021 according to new data from OpenSecrets. Healthcare...

Characteristics and Behavior of the Rising Class of Small Campaign Donors

New research on US political donations under $200 reveals characteristics of these donors as well as their motivations. A  Q&A with the authors of...

How the US Partisan Divide Shapes Global Capital Flows

A new empirical paper explores how partisan perception affects capital allocation beyond national borders, showing that the global investment practices of US institutional investors...

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