Influence-Seeking in U.S. Corporate Elites’ Campaign Contribution Behavior

Edoardo Teso
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Edoardo Teso: Northwestern University, Bocconi University, NBER, and CEPR

The Review of Economics and Statistics, 2025, vol. 107, issue 3, 685-696

Abstract: I leverage a new panel on the contributions to members of the U.S. Congress (MCs) from 401,557 corporate leaders of 14,807 U.S. corporations over 1999–2018 to show that U.S. corporate elites use contributions to political campaigns as a tool of political influence. Donations increase by 11% when a politician is assigned to a committee dealing with policy issues relevant to a corporate leader’s company. The effect is driven by donations to MCs with the greatest power in the committees. I estimate that, absent an influence motive, donations from corporate leaders during this period would have been lower by $20 million.

Date: 2025
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