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A Theory of Small Campaign Contributions

Laurent Bouton, Micael Castanheira and Allan Drazen

No 2020-43, Working Papers ECARES from ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles

Abstract: We propose a theory of small campaign contributions driven by an electoral motive, i.e. the desire to influence election outcomes. Though small donors take as given the actions of others, strategic interactions induce patterns consistent with empirical findings, e.g. election closeness and underdog effects. We also study different forms of campaign finance laws, and show why caps should be combined with a progressive tax on contributions. Next, we introduce large donors and show how several conclusions in the literature may be modified by the interaction with small donors. Throughout, we discuss the empirical implications of our findings.

Keywords: Campaign contributions; Small donors; Campaign finance laws; Elections; Income inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D71 D72 H31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 49 p.
Date: 2020-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-mic and nep-pol
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Related works:
Journal Article: A Theory of Small Campaign Contributions (2024) Downloads
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Working Paper: A Theory of Small Campaign Contributions (2018) Downloads
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Working Paper: A Theory of Small Campaign Contributions (2018) Downloads
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