Do house prices affect campaign contributions?

Rebecca Lessem, Sarah Niebler and Carly Urban

Economics and Politics, 2023, vol. 35, issue 2, 629-660

Abstract: Individual campaign contributions are the largest source of financing for U.S. presidential and congressional candidates, though the body of research examining why people give remains small. To help understand these decisions, we estimate the causal impact of house prices on donations across campaigns and parties using an instrumental variables strategy. Our results indicate that an increase in house prices increases ZIP code‐level donations to Democratic presidential and congressional candidates, with minuscule or no effect for Republican candidates. The effects in areas with a greater proportion of renters are larger than areas with more homeowners. Since this population is likely to experience higher rents as a result of house price increases, this suggests that pleas for policy may inspire giving. Further, areas with the highest fraction of college educated residents also see the largest effects, when compared to less‐educated areas, suggesting a wealth effect exists as well.

Date: 2023
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