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Signaling with Reform: How the Threat of Corruption Prevents Informed Policy-making

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2019

KEITH E. SCHNAKENBERG Open the ORCID record for KEITH E. SCHNAKENBERG [Opens in a new window]  and
IAN R. TURNER Open the ORCID record for IAN R. TURNER [Opens in a new window]
KEITH E. SCHNAKENBERG*
Affiliation:
Washington University
IAN R. TURNER*
Affiliation:
Yale University
*
*Keith E. Schnakenberg, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Washington University, St. Louis, [email protected].
†Ian R. Turner, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Yale University, [email protected].
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Abstract

Lobbying is a potential source of corruption but is also a valuable source of information for policy-makers. We analyze a game-theoretic model that shows how the threat of corruption affects the incentives of noncorrupt politicians to enlist the help of lobbyists to make more informed decisions. Politicians face a dilemma because voters cannot always tell whether a politician allows access to lobbyists to solicit corruption or to seek information. Thus, a noncorrupt politician may deny access to lobbyists to signal that she is noncorrupt even though doing so impedes her ability to make good policy. This signaling may decrease the welfare of the voters depending on the value of the lost policy information relative to the value of screening out corrupt politicians.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 113 , Issue 3 , August 2019 , pp. 762 - 777
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2019 

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Footnotes

The authors would like to thank Stephane Wolton, Carlo Prato, Jon Woon, Richard Van Weelden, Chris Cotton, Thomas Groll, Arnaud Dellis, Philippe De Donder, Torun Dewan, Tasos Kalandrakis, Andrea Aldrich, Bill Clark, as well as seminar audiences at Texas A&M University, Université du Québec à Montréal, University of Pittsburgh, Washington University in St. Louis, and the London School of Economics and Political Science for very helpful discussions and feedback. Errors are ours alone.

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