Informational Lobbying under the Shadow of Political Pressure

Matthias Dahm and Nicolás Porteiro

No 1409, Discussion Papers from Northwestern University, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science

Abstract: We examine the incentives of an interest group to provide verifiable policy-relevant information to a political decision-maker and to exert political pressure on her. We show that both lobbying instruments are interdependent. In our view information provision is a risky attempt to affect the politician’s beliefs about the desirability of the lobby’s objective. The constraints governing informational lobbying determine a specific lottery available. The circumstances under which political pressure can be applied specify the lobby’s valuation of different beliefs of the politician and, thus, her attitude toward risk. The combination of lotteries available and induced risk preference determines the optimal lobbying behavior. Our approach gives a novel explanation for the fact that interest groups often try to provide information credibly. We identify several factors that induce risk proclivity (and thus information provision). We also show that the availability of political pressure might have a deterrence effect on information provision. This ‘shadow of political pressure’ might impede information provision at all or induce a complementary relationship between both lobbying instruments.

Keywords: Experts; Influence; Credibility; Political contributions; Issue ads. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C72 D72 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm and nep-pol
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Related works:
Journal Article: Informational lobbying under the shadow of political pressure (2008)
Working Paper: Informational Lobbying under the Shadow of Political Pressure (2006)
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