We assess the influence of moneyed interests on legislative decisions. Our theory predicts that the vote outcome distribution and donation flows in a legislature feature a discontinuity at the approval threshold of bills if special interest groups are involved in vote buying. Testing the...

This paper examines the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision, which lifted bans on independent expenditures by corporations and unions. Using a difference-in-differences design, the study compares states with and without pre-existing bans, focusing on gubernatorial elections. The...

There is a perception in the United States that campaign contributions equate with vote buying. Outright vote buying is illegal, but many citizens believe that loopholes in campaign contribution laws allow some to buy votes while perpetuating a façade of legitimacy. Both federal and state laws...

The purpose of this paper is to analyze under what conditions political parties and interest groups are more likely to participate in state supreme court elections. This paper focuses on the amount of money that each group contributed to judicial candidates in partisan and non-partisan elections...

Introduction : new rules, old practices -- Money and candidate quality -- Adapting to the mixed system -- Spending and vote shares -- Party strategies and money politics -- The evolution of support groups -- The creation and costs of informal norms -- Conclusion -- Appendixes -- References --...

This paper discusses the legislative pork barrel in the Philippines, particularly the ‘CDF', that is, the Constituency Development Fund and similar funding for projects initiated by legislators. This paper argues that this lump sum discretionary fund is a specie of political corruption that is...