Neoclassical economic theory assumes that firms have no power to influence the rules of the game. A new paper by Luigi Zingales argues: This is true only in competitive product markets. When firms have market power, they will seek and obtain political influence and vice versa.
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A new Stigler Center working paper looks into the effects of referendums and public initiatives on public policy and finds that direct democracy better represents the will of the majority, and therefore might also be better able to counteract the power of special interests over policymaking.
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Between January 2009 and December 2015, White House officials met with corporate CEOs 2,286 times. A new study, to be presented at the upcoming Stigler Center conference on the political economy of finance, shows that access to the White House has several economic benefits.
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A look at the Big Four’s congressional lobbying activity shows the auditors and their trade association taking advantage of the “Trump” window to roll back the 2002 reforms that changed their business.
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In the final installment of ProMarket’s interview series on the economic theory of the firm, we ask Princeton University professor Alan Blinder and University of Mannheim President Ernst-Ludwig von Thadden about the role of corporations and governments in the market.
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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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The recent revelations regarding the interactions between Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel and former Uber executive and Obama adviser David Plouffe suggest that the real action in the U.S. lobbying game takes place under the surface. The billions of dollars invested in lobbying every year, and the thousands of registered lobbyists, are only the tip of the influence-peddling iceberg.
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The latest update of the Chicago Booth/Kellogg School Financial Trust Index survey shows that anger at the current economic situation has been growing among low-income households since 2014, and that low-income white non-Hispanics are angrier than most other demographics.
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Trump is eliminating lobbyists by putting them in charge of all departments.
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While it is still too early to draw any decisive conclusions regarding the role money played during this election cycle, some trends can already be observed.
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Hillary Clinton has promised to be tough on finance and pharmaceutical companies. So why do financial and healthcare stocks go up when the probability of a Clinton presidency increases?
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Hillary Clinton’s donors are wealthier than Donald Trump’s, at least judging from the value of their homes. The median home price of Clinton’s supporters is $639,796 while Trump’s donors’ median home price is $474,427.
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