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Agency breadth and political influence
Stockholm University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute for International Economic Studies.
Number of Authors: 22021 (English)In: Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, ISSN 0167-2681, E-ISSN 1879-1751, Vol. 188, p. 253-268Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

We study, theoretically and empirically, legislative influence over executive agencies, focusing on the breadth of agency responsibilities. We model interest groups, the legislature, and agencies. Politicians exert costly effort to influence agencies in exchange for interest groups' campaign contributions. Effort, however, can only be imperfectly targeted. When effort is spent on behalf of one group, some spills over to benefit other interest groups. This creates externalities of influence that are larger in broad agencies, deterring legislative influence. Empirically, we develop a novel lobbying-based measure of breadth and combine it with survey data on influence in 70 US federal agencies. Broad agencies report less influence, and we rule out several alternative explanations. These results are important for understanding how to insulate divisive tasks from political influence.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2021. Vol. 188, p. 253-268
Keywords [en]
Agency design, Money in politics, Regulatory politics, Regulatory capture, Special interest groups
National Category
Economics and Business
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-197681DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2021.05.009ISI: 000684520200013OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-197681DiVA, id: diva2:1603113
Available from: 2021-10-14 Created: 2021-10-14 Last updated: 2022-02-25Bibliographically approved

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Downey, Mitch

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