Brian K. Richter’s case study illustrates how firms can use lobbying strategies to complement socially responsible activities that are cost centers and turn them into a competitive advantage.
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Study: Political Connections Lower Companies’ Tax Rates and Risk of Being Audited
How does the revolving door between Congress and corporate America affect the enforcement of tax policy? A new study examines how tax rates change when firms hire former members of Congress, finding that companies’ tax bills and the probability of being audited decrease markedly when they hire a former legislator.
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The Political Footprint of Big Tech in Five Easy Charts
Big tech firms have been active in Washington since the early days of the Microsoft antitrust case, but in recent years they have increased their political spending, allowing us to get a sense of the scope of their influence.
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Editors’ Briefing: This Week in Political Economy (May 19–26)
Trump signs the largest rollback of financial regulations since the 2008 crisis into law; Zuckerberg masterfully evades the questions of European parliamentarians; Amazon has developed a “powerful and dangerous” new facial recognition system; and why don’t health insurers mind big hospital bills?
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Editors’ Briefing: This Week in Political Economy (April 14–April 28)
Why has Facebook’s scandal not dented its earnings? How much are states and local governments giving to corporations in economic-development incentives? And did CFPB head Mick Mulvaney really say “the swampiest thing ever”?
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Editors’ Briefing: On Our Radar This Week (April 1–April 7)
This week in political economy.
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When Taxpayers Subsidize Corporate Lobbying: How Firms Use Charitable Giving to Influence Politics
A new Stigler Center working paper examines a more roundabout way that companies can influence legislators: by donating money to charities in lawmakers’ districts. The authors find that the magnitude of these tax-exempt charitable flows dwarfs what firms spend in PACs.
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Guns and Votes: The Victory of an Intense Minority Against an Apathetic Majority
This column on the “gun-control paradox”—the fact that gun regulations continually fail in the US Congress despite being supported by around 90 percent of US citizens—appeared in 2013 on VoxEU.org after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary and was republished in 2017 after the Las Vegas mass shooting. Following the Parkland mass shooting, we are republishing it with a new preface by one of the coauthors.
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Editors’ Briefing: On Our Radar This Week (Dec. 9–Dec. 16)
This week in political economy.
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Study: Politicians Vote Against the Will of Their Constituents 35 Percent of the Time
New Stigler Center working paper: “To the extent that legislators represent majority opinion, it happens largely because legislators share the opinions of their constituents, not because legislators seek to reflect constituent opinion.”
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How Many Newt Gingrich’s Are There in Washington? Much More Than You Might Think
As more and more lobbyists move to consulting and PR agencies, experts say the underworld of hidden lobbying is probably much bigger than what formal disclosures and registries reveal.
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Donald Trump’s Economic Policies: Pro-Business, Not Pro-Market
Trump is eliminating lobbyists by putting them in charge of all departments.
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