Enhancing Transparency and Issuing Special Passes: The Spurious Diffusion of Lobbyist Registers

Abstract

This paper contributes to the literature on interest group politics by analysing the adoption of lobbyist registers among 40 member states of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and European Union. After a long period of rare adoption, 12 countries have decided to enhance transparency by regulating access to policymaking. Statistical results and case studies demonstrate that the presence of high levels of corruption and the structure of the civil society are significant functional explanations for the regulation of lobbying activities. At the onset of the spread of adoption of such regulation and in spite of international organizations' advocacy, there is no evidence for any mechanism of countries' interdependence, indicating spurious diffusion.

Keywords: corruption, interest groups, civil society, lobby register, transparency

JEL Classification: L30, Z18