Do Political Action Committees Give Money to Candidates for Electoral or Influence Motives?

Christopher Magee

Public Choice, 2002, vol. 112, issue 3-4, 373-99

Abstract: This paper examines the motivation of political action committees in their campaign contributions. The paper estimates the effect of contributions on the 1996 House of Representatives elections and on the candidates' policy stances. Contributions to challengers have a large impact on election outcomes but incumbent receipts do not. On four of the five issues examined, interest groups responded to candidate positions rather than giving funds to influence them. These results are consistent with an electoral motive for contributions. Some evidence is presented that contributions to incumbents may be given to secure unobservable services for the PAC. Copyright 2002 by Kluwer Academic Publishers

Date: 2002
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