Political Fundraising Networks

28 Pages Posted: 8 Nov 2012 Last revised: 28 Nov 2012

See all articles by Jason Poulos

Jason Poulos

University of California, Berkeley

Date Written: November 28, 2012

Abstract

The paper uses new data on congressional fundraising networks to test whether network structure influences fundraising performance. The results are consistent with two predictions of ``middleman'' models of network formation: first, fundraising networks are characterized by high levels of inequality; second, fundraising performance and network centrality are positively related. Employing a spatial IV strategy that controls for the endogeneity of network formation and endogenous social effects, I find that a one percent increase in a legislator's centrality yields a 0.627% increase in funds raised. The IV estimate is within one standard deviation of the nonspatial OLS estimate and is robust to alternative methods of estimation.

Keywords: Social networks, network effects, centrality, inequality, political fundraising

JEL Classification: D72, C31, C36

Suggested Citation

Poulos, Jason, Political Fundraising Networks (November 28, 2012). MIT Political Science Department Research Paper No. 2012-28, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2171918 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2171918

Jason Poulos (Contact Author)

University of California, Berkeley ( email )

525 F. Haas School of Business
Berkeley, CA
United States

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