Shadow Lobbyists

d’Este Rocco, Mirko Draca and Christian Fons-Rosen
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d’Este Rocco: Department of Economics, University of Sussex and IZA
Mirko Draca: Department of Economics & CAGE Research Centre, University of Warwick

The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) from University of Warwick, Department of Economics

Abstract: Special interest influence via lobbying is increasingly controversial and legislative efforts to deal with this issue have centred on the principle of transparency. In this paper we evaluate the effectiveness of the current regulatory framework provided by the US Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA). Specifically, we study the role of ex-Congressional officials who join US lobbying firms in positions that could be related to lobbying activity but without officially registering as lobbyists themselves. We find that firm lobbying revenues increase significantly when these potential ‘shadow lobbyists’ join, with effects in the range of 10-20%. This shadow lobbyist revenue effect is comparable to the effect of a registered lobbyist at the median of the industry skill distribution. As such, it is challenging to reconcile the measured shadow lobbyist effect with the 20% working time threshold for registering as a lobbyist. Based on our estimates, the unaccounted for contributions of unregistered lobbyists can be valued at $149 million USD in revenue terms and this effect is concentrated within the industry’s largest and most active firms. JEL Codes: D72

Keywords: Lobbying; Revolving Door; Political Money (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-pol
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https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/w ... erp_1449_-_draca.pdf

Related works:
Working Paper: Shadow Lobbyists (2023)
Working Paper: Shadow Lobbyists (2023)
Working Paper: Shadow Lobbyists (2023)
Working Paper: Shadow Lobbyists (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wrk:warwec:1449

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