Are Campaign Contributions a Form of Speech? Evidence from Recent US House Elections

Dhammika Dharmapala and Filip Palda

Public Economics from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: This paper investigates the effects of the sources of candidates' campaign funding on their electoral outcomes, with particular emphasis on whether candidates who rely on a narrow base of funding suffer adverse electoral consequences. An extensive dataset consisting of over 650,000 contributions to House candidates in elections from 1980 to 1992 is used. The results reveal a negative relationship between the concentration of contributions and voteshare for open seat candidates and challengers. This may have significant implications for some of the empirical premises underlying the US Supreme Court's landmark {\em Buckley v. Valeo} decision. At very least the finding is an important stylized fact about US elections which is robust over the 1980's and early 1990's.

Keywords: Campaign finance; contribution limits; spending limits; free speech; Buckley v. Valeo; Herfindahl index (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 K39 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 pages
Date: 2001-11-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-law
Note: Type of Document - PDF; prepared on IBM PC ; to print on HP/PostScript; pages: 37; figures: included. PDF file can be viewed or printed.
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Journal Article: Are Campaign Contributions a Form of Speech? Evidence from Recent US House Elections (2002)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wpa:wuwppe:0111007

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