Research
CCP Recommended Reading
Have a question or issue in campaign law? Contact us and we'll try to answer you. Enter your e-mail below:
Browse Research by Category
Contributions & Limits
Comments on Hybrid Communications
Published on June 11, 2007
File Under: Contributions & Limits, Coordination, Political Parties
CCP comments on the FEC's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding "hybrid communications." Executive Director Steve Hoersting urges the Commission to avoid inquiry into the subjective value of political communications, and to continue allowing candidates and parties to share advertising costs according to clear, flexible rules.
Comments on Alternative Draft AO 2006-30 (ActBlue)
Published on November 8, 2006 10:00 AM
by Paul Sherman
File Under: Contributions & Limits
CCP comments on Alternative Draft Advisory Opinion 2006-30 (ActBlue). Associate Director Paul Sherman recommends that the Commission adopt this alternative draft and explains some of the previous draft's shortcomings.
Comments on Draft AO 2006-30 (ActBlue)
Published on November 1, 2006 02:00 PM
by Paul Sherman
File Under: Contributions & Limits
CCP comments on Draft Advisory Opinion 2006-30 (ActBlue). Associate Director Paul Sherman recommends that prospective candidates not be treated as actual candidates for purposes of forwarding and depositing donations of federally eligible funds.
State Campaign Finance Reform, Competitiveness, and Party Advantage in Gubernatorial Elections
Published on April 17, 2006
by Jeffrey Milyo, David Primo, and Timothy Groseclose
File Under: Contributions & Limits
April 2006 (Forthcoming in The Marketplace of Democracy, eds. Michael McDonald and John Samples, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.)
Despite the attention given to electoral competitiveness and campaign money, little is known about the impact of campaign finance laws on electoral outcomes. In this paper, [authors] estimate the net effect of campaign finance laws on competitiveness and party advantage in gubernatorial elections.
Campaign Finance Laws and Political Efficacy: Evidence from the States
Published on March 6, 2006
by David M. Primo, University of Rochester, and Jeffrey Milyo, University of Missouri
File Under: Contributions & Limits, Disclosure, Public Financing
Election Law Journal, March 2006
The decline of political efficacy and trust in the United States is often linked to the rise of money in politics. Both the courts and reform advocates justify restrictions on campaign donations and spending as necessary for the improvement of links between the government and the governed.
The Effects of Campaign Finance Laws on Turnout, 1950-2000
Published on February 1, 2006
by David M. Primo, University of Rochester, and Jeffrey Milyo, University of Missouri
File Under: Contributions & Limits
Working paper
Scholars have proposed many routes by which campaign finance laws may impact turnout. For instance, laws restricting campaign spending may decrease mobilization, resulting in lower turnout. Alternatively, such laws might increase the competitiveness of elections, resulting in higher turnout.
Did Firms Profit from Soft Money?
Published on March 15, 2004
by Stephen Ansolabehere, James M. Snyder Jr., and Michiko Ueda
File Under: Contributions & Limits, Political Parties
Election Law Journal, Spring 2004
This paper uses event study methodology to measure whether firms that gave soft money to political parties received excessively high rates of returns from their contributions.
This Is Reform? Predicting the Impact of the New Campaign Financing Regulations
Published on November 20, 2002
by Patrick Basham
File Under: Contributions & Limits, Political Committees & 527s
Cato Briefing Paper No. 78
McCain-style campaign finance regulation is the new campaign reality. But what exactly will this reformist utopia look like? Assessing the "reformed" campaign of the future against the stated desires and expectations of the principal campaign finance regulators and their media supporters, this paper predicts the most important changes in political campaigning, changes that will be experienced for the first time during the 2003–04 electoral cycle.
Why Is There So Little Money in U.S. Politics?
Published on June 10, 2002
by Stephen Ansolabehere, John de Figueiredo, and James M. Snyder, Jr.
File Under: Contributions & Limits
June 2002
Thirty years ago, Gordon Tullock posed a provocative puzzle: considering the value of public policies at stake and the reputed influence of campaign contributions in policy-making, why is there so little money in U.S. politics? In this paper, [authors] argue that campaign contributions are not a form of policy-buying, but are rather a form of political participation and consumption.
Corporate PAC Campaign Contributions in Perspective
Published on April 10, 2000
by Jeffrey Milyo, David Primo, and Timothy Groseclose
File Under: Contributions & Limits, Political Committees & 527s
Business and Politics, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2000
There is a vast empirical literature on the allocation of corporate PAC contributions in Congressional elections and the influence that these contributions have on the policy-making process. The attention given to PAC contributions is far in excess of their actual importance. Corporate PAC contributions account for about 10% of Congressional campaign spending and major corporations allocate far more money to lobbying or philanthropy than their affiliated PACs make in contributions.
