money in politics

How Market Power Leads to Corporate Political Influence

Neoclassical economic theory assumes that firms have no power to influence the rules of the game. A new paper by Luigi Zingales argues: This is...

Is Direct Democracy Better Able to Withstand the Influence of Special Interests?

A new Stigler Center working paper looks into the effects of referendums and public initiatives on public policy and finds that direct democracy better...

The Value of Access: How Closeness to the Obama White House Benefited Companies

Between January 2009 and December 2015, White House officials met with corporate CEOs 2,286 times. A new study, to be presented at the upcoming Stigler Center...

How the Global Audit Firms, Led by Deloitte, Are Using Their Lobbying Clout to Dilute Sarbanes-Oxley Reforms

A look at the Big Four’s congressional lobbying activity shows the auditors and their trade association taking advantage of the “Trump” window to roll...

"Current Populist Discontent Seems Mainly Driven by a Fear of Change and Uncertainty"

In the final installment of ProMarket’s interview series on the economic theory of the firm, we ask Princeton University professor Alan Blinder and University of...

How Many Newt Gingrich's Are There in Washington? Much More Than You Might Think

As more and more lobbyists move to consulting and PR agencies, experts say the underworld of hidden lobbying is probably much bigger than what formal...

Uber, the Mayor’s Private Email, and the Underground Lobbying Complex

The recent revelations regarding the interactions between Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel and former Uber executive and Obama adviser David Plouffe suggest that the real action in...

Financial Trust Index: Americans are Angrier at the Current Economic Situation, Particularly Low-Income Whites

The latest update of the Chicago Booth/Kellogg School Financial Trust Index survey shows that anger at the current economic situation has been growing among...

Donald Trump’s Economic Policies: Pro-Business, Not Pro-Market

Trump is eliminating lobbyists by putting them in charge of all departments. After his election,((This post was originally published in Il Sole 24 Ore.)) it was...

Campaign Finance in the 2016 Election: With Federal Reform Unlikely, the Use of Super PACs has Become More “Brazen”

While it is still too early to draw any decisive conclusions regarding the role money played during this election cycle, some trends can already...

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