Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T19:04:02.300Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The lure of the private sector: career prospects affect selection out of Congress

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2021

Benjamin C. K. Egerod Open the ORCID record for Benjamin C. K. Egerod [Opens in a new window]
Benjamin C. K. Egerod*
Affiliation:
Department of International Economics, Government and Business, Copenhagen Business School, Porcelænshaven 24A, DK-2000, Frederiksberg, Denmark
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Does the potential for a successful private sector career induce legislators to leave office? How does this affect the representation voters receive? I show that when former US senators—who now work as lobbyists—become more successful, currently serving senators with similar characteristics are more likely to take private sector employment. I replicate all results on data from the House. A number of tests suggest that senators react to the opportunity costs of holding office. Investigating selection effects, I find that legislative specialists are attracted the most in the Senate. Preliminary evidence suggests that the least wealthy respond most strongly in the House. This suggests that the revolving door shapes the skill set of legislators and the representation voters receive.

Keywords

(Adverse) political selectionrevolving door politicsthe post-elective labor market for politiciansUS Congress
Type
Original Article
Information
Political Science Research and Methods , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , October 2022 , pp. 722 - 738
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adler, ES and Wilkerson, J ( 2018) Congressional bills project 1947–2017.Google Scholar
Adolph, C (2013) Bankers, Bureaucrats, and Central Bank Politics: the Myth of Neutrality. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ban, P, Palmer, M and Schneer, B (2019) From the halls of congress to K street: Government experience and its value for lobbying. Legislative Studies Quarterly 44(4), 713–752.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernhard, W and Sulkin, T (2018) Legislative Style. Chicaco, Illinois: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berry, C and Fowler, A (2016) Cardinals or clerics? Congressional committees and the distribution of pork. American Journal of Political Science 60, 692–708.Google Scholar
Bertrand, M, Bombardini, M and Trebbi, F (2014) Is it whom you know or what you know? An empirical assessment of the lobbying process. American Economic Review 104, 3885–3920.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blanes i Vidal, J, Draca, M and Fons-Rosen, C (2012) Revolving door lobbyists. American Economic Review 102, 3731–3748.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonica, A and Sulkin, T (2016) Database on Ideology, Money in Politics, and Elections: Public Version 2.0. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Libraries.Google Scholar
Carnes, N (2013) White-Collar Government: The Hidden Role of Class in Economic Policy Making. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carnes, N (2016) Congressional Leadership and Social Status (CLASS) Dataset, Version 1.9. Durham: Duke University.Google Scholar
Caughey, D and Warshaw, C (2015) The dynamics of state policy liberalism, 1936–2014. American Journal of Political Science 60(4), 899–913.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caughey, D and Warshaw, C (2017) Policy preferences and policy change: dynamic responsiveness in the American states, 1936–2014. American Political Science Review 112(2), 249–266.Google Scholar
Diermeier, D, Keane, M and Merlo, A (2005) A political economy model of congressional careers. American Economic Review 95, 347–373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Egerod, BCK (2019) The revolving door, regulatory enforcement, firm-level evidence on tax rates and IRS audits.Google Scholar
Eggers, A and Hainmueller, J (2009) MPS for sale? Returns to office in postwar British politics. American Political Science Review 103, 513–533.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenno, R (1973) Congressmen in Committees. Boston, Massachusetts: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Ferraz, C and Finan, F (2009) Motivating politicians: The impacts of monetary incentives on quality and performance. National Bureau of Economic Research. URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w14906.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fouirnaies, A and Hall, A (2018) How do interest groups seek access to committees?. American Journal of Political Science 62, 132–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fowler, J (2006) Connecting the congress: a study of cosponsorship networks. Political Analysis 14, 456–487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Francis, K and Bramlett, B (2017) Precongressional careers and committees: the impact of congruence. American Politics Research 45, 755–789.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Furnas, A, Heaney, M and LaPira, T (2019) The partisan ties of lobbying firms. Research & Politics 6(3), 1–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GovTrack. 2017. GovTrack Database of historical bill status and sponsorship, 93rd to the 114th Congress.Google Scholar
Groseclose, T and Krehbiel, K (1994) Golden parachutes, rubber checks, and strategic retirements from the 102D House. American Journal of Political Science 38(1), 75–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hainmueller, J, Mummolo, J and Xu, Y (2019) How much should we trust estimates from multiplicative interaction models? Simple tools to improve empirical practice. Political Analysis 27, 163–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, A (2019) Who Wants to Run?, How the Devaluing of Political Office Drives Polarization. Chicago Studies in American Po.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, R and Van Houweling, R (1995) Avarice and ambition in congress: representatives’ decisions to run or retire from the US House. American Political Science Review 89, 121–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hibbing, J (1982 a) Voluntary retirement from the US House: the costs of congressional service. Legislative Studies Quarterly 7(1), 57–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hibbing, J (1982 b) Voluntary retirements from the house in the twentieth century. Journal of Politics 44, 1020–1034.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LaPira, T (2014) Lobbying in the shadows, How private interests hide from public scrutiny, and why that matters. SSRN Working Paper.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LaPira, T and Thomas, H (2017) Revolving Door Lobbying: Public Service, Private Influence, and the Unequal Representation of Interests. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas.Google Scholar
Lazarus, J and McKay, A (2012) Consequences of the revolving door: evaluating the lobbying success of former congressional members and staff. SSRN Working paper.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lazarus, J, McKay, A and Herbel, L (2016) Who walks through the revolving door? Examining the lobbying activity of former members of congress. Interest Groups & Advocacy 5, 82–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, A and Quinn, K (2002) Dynamic ideal point estimation via Markov chain Monte Carlo for the US Supreme Court, 1953–1999. Political Analysis 10, 134–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCrain, J (2018) Revolving door lobbyists and the value of congressional staff connections. Journal of Politics 80, 1369–1383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Messner, M and Polborn, M (2004) Paying politicians. Journal of Public Economics 88, 2423–2445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palmer, M and Schneer, B (2016) Capitol gains: the returns to elected office from corporate board directorships. Journal of Politics 78, 181–196.Google Scholar
Schiller, W (1995) Senators as political entrepreneurs: using bill sponsorship to shape legislative agendas. American Journal of Political Science 39(1), 186–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shepherd, M and You, HY (2020) Exit strategy: career concerns and revolving doors in congress. American Political Science Review 114, 270–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shepsle, K (1978) The Giant Jigsaw Puzzle: Democratic Committee Assignments in the Modern House. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Stewart, C and Woon, J (2017) Congressional Committee Assignments, 103rd to 114th Congresses, 1993–2017, the Senate and the House of Representatives, November 17, 2017 version.Google Scholar
Stone, W, Fulton, S, Maestas, C and Maisel, S (2010) Incumbency reconsidered: prospects, strategic retirement, and incumbent quality in US House elections. Journal of Politics 72, 178–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strickland, J (2020) The declining value of revolving-door lobbyists: evidence from the American states. American Journal of Political Science 64(1), 67–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Theriault, S (1998) Moving up or moving out: career ceilings and congressional retirement. Legislative Studies Quarterly 23(3), 419–433.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Treier, S and Jackman, S (2008) Democracy as a latent variable. American Journal of Political Science 52, 201–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Volden, C and Wiseman, A (2014) Legislative Effectiveness in the United States Congress. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Volden, C and Wiseman, A (2018) Legislative effectiveness in the United States Senate. Journal of Politics 80, 731–735.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ward, J (1963) Hierarchical grouping to optimize an objective function. Journal of the American Statistical Association 58, 236–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weschle, S (2019) Campaign finance legislation and the supply-side of the revolving door. Political Science Research and Methods First View, 1–15.Google Scholar
Wolak, J (2007) Strategic retirements: the influence of public preferences on voluntary departures from congress. Legislative Studies Quarterly 32, 285–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: Link

Egerod Dataset

Dataset

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/HPBHVB
Link
Supplementary material: PDF

Egerod supplementary material

Egerod supplementary material

Download Egerod supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 1.9 MB