Reverse Revolving Doors: the Influence of Interest Groups on Legislative Voting
Abstract: Using the alphabetic allocation of seats in the European Parliament, we show that former employees of interest groups influence the voting behavior of their col- leagues when sitting together. When the subject of the vote is relevant to the interest group, the probability of the nearby colleagues of casting the same vote increases by 2.4% and that of abstention decreases by 9%, while no effect is detected for other vote subjects. These probabilities increase for votes about budgetary allocations and they are comparable to those of sitting beside party motion leaders. Revolving doors are problematic for the political process also when working in reverse.
