Who Gets the Goods? Moderate Voting Records, Diminishing Returns, and PAC Contributions

Economics & Politics, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 321-333, November 2000

13 Pages Posted: 15 Sep 2011

See all articles by Gregory M. Dempster

Gregory M. Dempster

Hampden-Sydney College

Christopher Westley

Florida Gulf Coast University

Date Written: September 14, 2011

Abstract

Assuming that a legislator representing a moderate constituency (with respect to a variety of interests) may be expected to vote moderately in general, the authors suggest a measure of the “moderateness” of a legislator’s voting behavior and use it to determine whether a relationship exists between PAC contributions and the degree of moderateness. The results suggest that PACs exhibit a tendency to give more, at the margin, to legislators with moderate voting records.

Keywords: ideology, voting, voting models, politics

JEL Classification: D72

Suggested Citation

Dempster, Gregory M. and Westley, Christopher, Who Gets the Goods? Moderate Voting Records, Diminishing Returns, and PAC Contributions (September 14, 2011). Economics & Politics, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 321-333, November 2000, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1927549

Gregory M. Dempster

Hampden-Sydney College ( email )

Economics Department
Hampden-Sydney, VA 23943
United States
804-223-6337 (Phone)

Christopher Westley (Contact Author)

Florida Gulf Coast University ( email )

10485 FGCU Blvd S
Ft. Myers, FL 33965-6565
United States

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