Voting for a Career: The Revolving Door Moderates the US Senate

Publikation: KonferencebidragPaperForskning

  • Benjamin Carl Krag Egerod
I investigate how the revolving door affects voting in the Senate. The literature on final-term problems suggests that senators should become more extreme before they leave office, because they no longer are accountable to voters. Lack of electoral accountability could, however, have different effects depending on the senator's career ambitions. While retiring senators are no longer accountable to anyone but themselves, revolving door politicians will be accountable to their future employers, because they depend on them for post-elective employment. During their final Congress, this should lead revolving door senators to moderate themselves, while retiring ones should grow more partisan. Using data on post-elective career trajectories from 102nd to the 113th Senate, I present fixed effects estimates that back this claim. I show that the effect is driven by senators, who choose to resign, and provide evidence suggesting that the shift happens, because senators anticipate the preferences of their future employer.
OriginalsprogEngelsk
Publikationsdato9 apr. 2017
Antal sider44
StatusUdgivet - 9 apr. 2017
BegivenhedMPSA Annual Conference: 75th Annual MPSA Conference - Palmer House Hilton, Chicago, USA
Varighed: 6 apr. 20179 apr. 2017
https://convention2.allacademic.com/one/mpsa/mpsa17/

Konference

KonferenceMPSA Annual Conference
Lokation Palmer House Hilton
LandUSA
ByChicago
Periode06/04/201709/04/2017
Internetadresse

ID: 176370472