Political alignment between firms and employees in the United States: evidence from a new dataset

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Jan Stuckatz
Keyword(s):  
Political Action ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Action Committees ◽  
Data Matching ◽  
External Data ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Occupation Level ◽  
Political Alignment

Abstract I present a novel measure of partisan alignment between firms and employees. This measure is constructed using data matching 1,691,790 US federal campaign contribution filings of 85,109 individuals to the donations of 874 Political Action Committees (PACs) of publicly listed US companies between 2003 and 2016. The alignment measure shows that employee and employer contributions are highly correlated. Furthermore, firm- and occupation-level factors are significantly associated with firm–employee alignment. Uniquely, these new data can be easily linked to external data on industries, firms, and occupations and consequently allow for in-depth analysis of precisely how companies can influence employees’ politics.

Governance models of public utility commissions in the United States

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 229-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas J. Howe
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Action ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Legislature ◽  
The State ◽  
Public Utility ◽  
Political Action Committees ◽  
Special Interest Groups ◽  
Governance Model

Regulation of utilities at the state level in the United States is undertaken by a commission on which anywhere from three to seven commissioners sit and must vote on virtually all significant utility actions, including rate requests, resource plans, acquisitions and mergers, and financing mechanisms. Public utility commissions (PUCs) are, in a very real sense, courts with adjudicatory responsibility over the area of state utility laws. In hearing a utility case, they must follow the state’s statutes and court rules. The commissioners function as judges in this court of public utility law. In a majority of states, commissioners are appointed by the state’s governor with the advice and consent of the state legislature. In a significant minority of states, commissioners are elected by popular vote. However, recent changes in US election law have made it easier for corporations and special interest groups, called political action committees, to influence elections through donations targeting direct voter outreach on behalf of specific candidates. This chapter examines what the entry of political spending in PUC elections means, and whether elected commissioners can adjudicate in the public interest, or will adjudicate for special interests. The chapter concludes that while both the appointment and election governance model can produce both “good” and “bad” commissioners, it is the elected commission that is most at risk of selecting commissioners that will not be truly independent and objective arbiters of the law.

New Empirical Evidence of the Role of Interest Groups in Influencing the Growth of Government

2000 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-100
Author(s):  
Gary A. Wagner ◽  
Russell S. Sobel
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Political Action Committees ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Status ◽  
Short Run ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
New Evidence

Abstract We provide new evidence regarding the role of interest groups in influencing the size and growth of government spending. Using data on the change in individual legislators’ total voted and sponsored spending from the status quo, we explore this relationship in a manner closer to the public choice tradition. Examining the impact diat interest groups have on individual legislators’ preferences for new spending, we find that interest groups within a legislator’s district exhibit more influence on the short-run growth of the budget than do Political Action Committees.

Boycott and Buycott as Emerging Modes of Civic Engagement

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 43-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Adugu
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Safety Concern ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Demographic Correlates ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Consumptive Behavior ◽  
Public Policy Decisions ◽  
Political Consumption

Citizens in post-industrialized societies such as the United States are becoming dissatisfied with some public policy decisions on the provisioning of food, prompting engagement in buycotts and boycotts as means to influence policy change. Such politically motivated consumptive behavior with social change motives is referred as political consumption. Using data from Ohio 2007 Survey of Food, Farming and the Environment, this research examines the attitudinal and demographic correlates of engagement in buycott and boycott. Findings reveal that engagement in boycott and buycott are shaped by food safety concern and knowledge of food production respectively. Both boycott and buycott behaviors are positively associated with conventional political action and organic labels. Those with greater political efficacy and high incomes are more likely to engage in buycott. These emerging forms of consumer-oriented political engagement may constitute an important force in setting the agenda for social change with respect to the issues targeted.

LGBT Candidates and Elected Officials in North America

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Everitt ◽  
Manon Tremblay
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Political Action ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Action Committees ◽  
Social Movement Organizations ◽  
Political Ambition ◽  
Policy Positions ◽  
Movement Organizations ◽  
Elected Office

The representation of LGBTQ individuals has improved substantially in Canada, Mexico, and the United States in the past few decades; however, the numbers holding elected office are still quite small. Several factors have contributed to the level of success of these candidates, including: changes in public opinion toward LGBTQ individuals and LGBTQ candidates in particular, their own levels of political ambition, their alignment with different political parties and the support that they receive from these organizations, media coverage of their candidacies and their policy positions, and finally their support from institutions of civil society such as political action committees or other social movement organizations. It is clear that in all three countries these candidates, when elected, contribute symbolically, through serving as role models to other LGBTQ individuals and increasing levels of acceptance among their non-LGBTQ colleagues. They also promote substantive representation through their support and promotion of policies that address LGBTQ issues and concerns.

Exploring Increasing Income Inequality in the United States: A Public Choice Approach

2018 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 181-188
Author(s):  
Laura J. Ahlstrom ◽  
Franklin G. Mixon ◽  
Kamal P. Upadhyaya
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Public Choice ◽  
Gini Coefficient ◽  
Political Action ◽  
The United States ◽  
Rent Seeking ◽  
Political Action Committees ◽  
Choice Approach ◽  
Public Choice Approach

In this article, we present some exploratory analysis of a common measure of income inequality in the United States. That measure is the Gini coefficient, and we explore how, and why, it has increased over the 50-year period in the United States from 1967 to 2017. Our hypothesis in doing so is that rising U.S. income inequality is due, at least in part, to growth in efforts by individuals, groups and even large companies in the United States to use government, with its power to compel, to bend the income distribution in their favor—an activity that public choice economists refer to as rent-seeking. When compared with some simple measures that proxy rent-seeking activity, such as the number of licensed lawyers and the number of registered political action committees, our analysis suggests that the U.S. Gini coefficient rises, a move that indicates increasing income inequality, over time with similar cycles in rent-seeking activity.

The Public Backlash against PACs

1983 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 133-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Prakash Sethi ◽  
Nobuaki Namiki
Keyword(s):  
Political Ideology ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Political Action Committees ◽  
The Political ◽  
Party Affiliation ◽  
The Public ◽  
Highly Correlated

The American public distrusts political action committees and considers them harmful to the nation's democratic political process. This negative reaction is independent of socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, political ideology, and party affiliation, but is highly correlated with optimism about the future and confidence in the nation's political, legal, and economic institutions and their leaders. The findings of this study suggest that business must undertake substantive and communications-related measures to improve public perception of PAC activities if it is to maintain societal legitimacy in its involvement in the political process.

scholarly journals Local Union Officers' Donations to a Political Action Committee

2005 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marick F. Masters ◽  
Robert S. Atkin
Keyword(s):  
Political Action ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
Political Action Committees ◽  
Political Action Committee ◽  
Union Commitment ◽  
Strategic Response ◽  
Presidential Candidates ◽  
Local Union ◽  
Action Committee

During the 1980s, unions in the United States significantly increased their political activity, partly as a strategic response to declining membership. An important aspect of this effort is contributing money to congressional and presidential candidates through political action committees (PACs). U.S. federal election campaign laws allow unions to raise PAC money from members on a strictly uoluntary basis. Elected local union officers may play an important part in union PAC fundraising, as they are a sizable cadre of potential donors and their donations may send powerful signais to rank-and-file to donate as well. This paper examines the PAC donations among a sample of elected local union officers of the United Steelworkers of America (USW). The descriptive results show significant variation in officers' PAC donations. Regression analyses show that union commitment is a significant predictor of PAC support as is location in a non-right-to-work state. The results have implications for promoting union PAC fundraising efforts, and hence the potential of U.S. unions to rely on political action as a strategy for resurgence.

scholarly journals Transparency or Deception? How Rejecting PAC Contributions Affects Contribution Patterns

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas R. Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Political Action ◽  
Campaign Contributions ◽  
Political Action Committees ◽  
Congressional Election ◽  
Presidential Candidates ◽  
Business Interests ◽  
Individual Contributions ◽  
Corporate Political Action ◽  
Using Data

A growing trend among Congressional and presidential candidates is to reject campaign contributions from corporate Political Action Committees (PACs). Although positioned as an effort to increase democratic transparency, researchers have yet to examine how these pledges affect contribution patterns. Using data on Democratic candidates in the 2018 Congressional election, I find that although pledging to reject corporate PAC contributions is associated with decreases in contributions from ideological, labor, and business PACs, taking the pledge is also associated with increases in contributions from political PACs and individuals. Increases in individual contributions include small-dollar donations and donations from individuals affiliated ideological and business interests. Additionally, I find that pledging to reject PAC contributions has no electoral benefits. This is the first study to examine the effects of rejecting PAC contributions on contribution patterns, and the first test of the claim that making this pledge will increase small-dollar donations.

Migration and the Internet

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 331-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas John Cooke ◽  
Ian Shuttleworth
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Unobserved Heterogeneity ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
The United States ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Using Data ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Dynamics Models

It is widely presumed that information and communication technologies, or ICTs, enable migration in several ways; primarily by reducing the costs of migration. However, a reconsideration of the relationship between ICTs and migration suggests that ICTs may just as well hinder migration; primarily by reducing the costs of not moving.  Using data from the US Panel Study of Income Dynamics, models that control for sources of observed and unobserved heterogeneity indicate a strong negative effect of ICT use on inter-state migration within the United States. These results help to explain the long-term decline in internal migration within the United States.

Aestheticism, Civil Society, and the Origins of Totalitarianism

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Mangrum
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Vladimir Nabokov ◽  
The United States ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Lionel Trilling ◽  
Conservative Politics ◽  
New Critics ◽  
Second World

This chapter argues that ongoing concerns about the rise of totalitarianism led writers and intellectuals in the United States to oppose social-democratic institutions after the Second World War. Familiar accounts about opposition to these institutions center on conservative politics. In contrast, this chapter argues that liberal thinkers invoked forms of aestheticism to combat what they perceived as the possible rise of totalitarianism in the United States. In order to document this under-explored trend in American political culture, this chapter establishes connections across writing by Lionel Trilling, Vladimir Nabokov, Hannah Arendt, Friedrich Hayek, the New Critics, and the American reception of Friedrich Nietzsche. These figures in postwar cultural life invoked aestheticism in the arenas of literature, philosophy, political action, and economics as a prophylactic to the perceived intrusions of an activist-managerial state.

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