Firm Donations and Political Rhetoric: Evidence from a National Ban†

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Cage, Julia; Le Pennec, Caroline; Mougin, Elisa
• 署名单位: Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK; Universite de Montreal; HEC Montreal; Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon (ENS de LYON)
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-ECONOMIC POLICY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7731
• DOI: 10.1257/pol.20220218
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 217-256
• 关键词: Campaign contributions; matching estimators; election outcomes; COMPETITION; money; BIAS

摘要

We study France's 1995 ban on firm donations to politicians. We use a difference-in-differences approach and a novel dataset combining the campaign manifestos issued by candidates running in French parliamentary elections with data on their campaign contributions. We show that banning firm donations discourages candidates from advertising their local presence during the campaign, as well as economic issues. The ban also leads candidates from nonmainstream parties to use more extreme language. This suggests that private donors shape politicians' topics of interest, and that campaign finance reforms may affect the information made available to voters through their impact on candidates' rhetoric. ( JEL D22, D72, D83, K16) )