Election Outcomes: Whose Money Matters?

Abstract

LEGISLATURES AND CITIZENS' GROUPS around country are developing new laws to reform campaign financing, yet there is very little quantitative analysis available to guide them. Berry, in his recent review, concluded that the financing of elections remains one of least understood areas in study of American political behavior ... money is surely important to electoral success, but just how important and how it is best utilized remains largely a mystery.' The present literature concerns itself with questions such as how much money is spent on political campaigns, what it is spent for and who contributes it, with little research focused on central question concerning money's role in political campaigns: what effect does it have on outcome?2 It has been widely suggested, but nowhere empirically tested, that most significant problem of political spending in America is underfinancing of candidates challenging incumbents.3 To test this hypothesis, we