Time to Travel in Search of the Political Market: A Review Article

Abstract

The relationship between business money and politicians is one of the great tensions in capitalist democracy. According to the theory of the political market, political contributions by business are investments in favourable policy outcomes. This hypothesis has been tested in a large and impressive U.S. literature. This literature has become famous for its empirical dissensus but no plausible alternative theory has been put forward. A major drawback of the literature is that it does not consider whether the U.S. is a most or least likely case for the political market hypothesis. I propose criteria for the assessment of country cases of the political market. Judged against these criteria there is nothing special about the U.S. Indeed, several other countries may be more suitable tests for the political market theory. Unfortunately, potential political markets outside the U.S. have undergone little systematic research. Therefore, I suggest that it is time for the sophisticated theories and methods of the U.S. to travel in search of other cases. Otherwise, this literature will probably continue to frustrate both researchers and readers.