Tax-Exempt Lobbying: Corporate Philanthropy as a Tool for Political Influence

72 Pages Posted: 3 Jan 2018 Last revised: 19 Apr 2019

See all articles by Marianne Bertrand

Marianne Bertrand

University of Chicago - Booth School of Business; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Matilde Bombardini

University of British Columbia (UBC)

Raymond J. Fisman

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Boston University

Francesco Trebbi

University of California, Berkeley - Haas School of Business; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Multiple version iconThere are 3 versions of this paper

Date Written: April 2019

Abstract

We explore the role of charitable giving as a means of political influence. For philanthropic foundations associated with large U.S. corporations, we present three different identification strategies that consistently point to the use of corporate social responsibility in ways that parallel the strategic use of Political Action Committee (PAC) spending. Our estimates imply that 16.1% of corporate charitable giving may be politically motivated, an amount 6.2 times larger than annual PAC contributions and 90% of federal lobbying. Absent of disclosure requirements, charitable giving may be a form of corporate political influence undetected by voters and directly subsidized by taxpayers.

Keywords: Special Interests, Corporate Social Responsibility, Charity, Campaign Contributions, Lobbying

JEL Classification: D72, P48, H7

Suggested Citation

Bertrand, Marianne and Bombardini, Matilde and Fisman, Raymond and Trebbi, Francesco, Tax-Exempt Lobbying: Corporate Philanthropy as a Tool for Political Influence (April 2019). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3095686 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3095686

Marianne Bertrand

University of Chicago - Booth School of Business ( email )

5807 S. Woodlawn Avenue
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773-834-5943 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://gsbwww.uchicago.edu/fac/marianne.bertrand/vita/cv_0604.pdf

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

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Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

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Matilde Bombardini

University of British Columbia (UBC) ( email )

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Canada

Raymond Fisman

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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Boston University ( email )

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Francesco Trebbi (Contact Author)

University of California, Berkeley - Haas School of Business ( email )

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2220 Piedmont Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94720
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

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