Download This PaperCampaigns, Political Mobility, and Communication
ETH Zurich Center for Economic Research Working Paper No. 11/143
30 Pages Posted: 2 Apr 2011
There are 2 versions of this paper
Campaigns, Political Mobility, and Communication
Date Written: January 1, 2011
Abstract
We present a model of elections in which interest group donations allow candidates to shift policy positions. We show that if donations were prohibited, then a unique equilibrium regarding the position choices of candidates would exist. With unrestricted financing of political campaigns two equilibria emerge, depending on whether a majority of interest groups runs to support the leftist or rightist candidate. The equilibria generate a variety of new features of campaign games and may help identify the objective functions of candidates empirically.
Keywords: elections, campaign contributions, interest groups
JEL Classification: C72, D72
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
IZA Institute of Labor Economics
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CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)
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