What Drives U.s. Corporate Elites' Campaign Contribution Behavior?
Abstract: Do U.S. corporate elites contribute to political campaigns purely motivated by ideological considerations, or are their donations also a tool of political influence? Using a new panel of contributions to Members of Congress (MCs) by 263,668 corporate leaders of U.S. corporations, I show that individuals’ donations vary over time as a function of MCs’ policy relevance for individuals’ companies: the likelihood of donating sharply increases when a MC becomes “policy relevant” to an individual’s company. The estimates suggest that 16 percent of the observed gap in U.S. corporate elites’ donations to “policy relevant” versus other MCs is driven by an influence-seeking motive.
