Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T20:48:14.422Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Driving support: workers, PACs, and congressional support of the auto industry1)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Ryan T. Moore ,
Eleanor Neff Powell  and
Andrew Reeves
Ryan T. Moore
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Washington University in St. Louis, 241 Seigle Hall, Campus Box 1063, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA, http://ryantmoore.com
Andrew Reeves
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Washington University in St. Louis, 241 Seigle Hall, Campus Box 1063, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA, http://andrewreeves.org
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In 2008 and 2009, the House of Representatives directed billions of dollars to the auto industry by passing a bailout and the “cash for clunkers” program. Moving beyond corporate influence via campaign contributions, we demonstrate that the presence of auto workers in a district strongly predicts legislative support for both bills. In addition to this critical legislation, we also analyze over 250 bills on which the auto industry either lobbied or took a public position. We find no patterns relating a district's workers or corporate campaign contributions to these votes on broader legislation where other groups, such as environmental advocates or labor unions, are at the table. Instead, the auto industry garners consistent support only on quasi-private, particularistic legislation. Thus, we contend that on particularistic legislation the presence of workers (not just campaign contributions) drives legislative support; however, when legislators expand the scope of conflict, the influence of a single industry is attentuated by other interests.

Type
Research Article
Information
Business and Politics , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , August 2013 , pp. 137 - 162
Copyright
Copyright © V.K. Aggarwal 2013 and published under exclusive license to Cambridge University Press 

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

ABC. 2011. “The Great American Debates: There's too Much Government in my Life.” This Week, December 18, transcript.Google Scholar
Ansolabehere, Stephen, de Figueiredo, John, and Snyder, James M. 2003. “Why is There so Little Money in US Politics.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 17: 105–130.Google Scholar
Beaulieu, E. 2002. “The Stolper-Samuelson Theorem Faces Congress.” Review of International Economics 10 (2): 343–360.Google Scholar
Beer, Samuel H. 1957. “The Representation of Interests in British Government: Historical Background.” American Political Science Review 51 (3): 613–650.Google Scholar
Burden, Barry C. 2007. Personal Roots of Representation. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Busch, Marc L., and Reinhardt, Eric. 2000. “Industry Location and Protection: The Political and Economic Geography of US Nontariff Barriers.” American Journal of Political Science 44 (4): 703–719.Google Scholar
Carroll, Royce, Lewis, Jeff, Lo, James, McCarty, Nolan, Poole, Keith, and Rosenthal, Howard. 2011. “DW-NOMINATE Scores with Bootstrapped Standard Errors.” Available at: voteview.com/dwnomin.htm.Google Scholar
Carter, Jimmy. 1980. “Remarks on Signing into Law H.R. 5860, the Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act of 1979.” The American Presidency Project. Accessed January 3, 2012. Available at: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=32978axzz1iVHeHBN1.Google Scholar
Center for Responsive Politics. 2011. “Political Action Committee Data.”.Google Scholar
Chappell, Henry W. Jr. 1982. “Campaign Contributions and Congressional Voting: A Simultaneous Probit-Tobit Model.” The Review of Economics and Statistics 64 (1): 77–83.Google Scholar
Clausen, Aage R. 1973. How Congressmen Decide: A Policy Focus. New York: St. Martin's Press.Google Scholar
Conley, Dalton, and McCabe, Brian J. 2012. “Bribery or Just Desserts? Evidence on the Influence of Congressional Reproductive Policy Voting Patterns on PAC Contributions from Exogenous Variation in the Sex Mix of Legislator Offspring.” Social Science Research 41 (1): 120–129.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cox, Gary W., and McCubbins, Mathew D. 1993. Legislative Leviathan: Party Government in the House. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Cox, Gary W., and McCubbins, Mathew D. 2007. Setting the Agenda: Responsible Party Government in the US House of Representatives. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Erikson, Robert S. 1978. “Constituency Opinion and Congressional Behavior: A Reexamination of the Miller-Stokes Representation Data.” American Journal of Political Science 22 (3): 511–535.Google Scholar
Fenno, Richard F. 1973. Congressmen in Committees. Boston: Little Brown.Google Scholar
Fiorina, Morris P. 1978. “Economic Retrospective Voting in American National Elections: A Micro-Analysis.” American Journal of Political Science 426–443.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fleisher, Richard. 1993. “PAC Contributions and Congressional Voting on National Defense.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 18 (3): 391–409.Google Scholar
Gimpel, James G., Lee, Frances E., and Parrott, Michael. 2012. “Economic Interests and the Party Coalitions: Campaign Contributions as a Window onto Partisan Alliances.” Paper presented at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Political Science Assocation.Google Scholar
Goren, Lilly J. 2003. The Politics of Military Base Closings. New York: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Grenzke, Janet M. 1989. “PACs and the Congressional Supermarket: The Currency is Complex.” American Journal of Political Science 33 (1): 1–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grier, Kevin B., Munger, Michael C., and Roberts, Brian E. 1994. “The Determinants of Industry Political Activity, 1978–1986.” The American Political Science Review 88 (4): 911–926.Google Scholar
Hall, Richard L. 1996. Participation in Congress. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Hall, Richard L., and Wayman, Frank W. 1990. “Buying Time: Moneyed Interests and the Mobilization of Bias in Congressional Committees.” The American Political Science Review 84 (3): 797–820.Google Scholar
Han, Hahrie. 2009. Moved to Action: Motivation, Participation, and Inequality in American Politics. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Hoover, Herbert. 1931. “Telephone Remarks to the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce.” The American Presidency Project. Accessed January 2, 2012. Available at: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=22999st=automobilest1=axzz1iPSQ32w5.Google Scholar
Imai, Kosuke, King, Gary, and Lau, Olivia. 2008. “Logit: Logistic Regression for Dichotomous Dependent Variables.” in Zelig: Everyone's Statistical Software.Google Scholar
Jones, Woodrow Jr., and Robert Keiser, K. 1987. “Issue Visibility and the Effects of PAC Money.” Social Science Quarterly 68: 170–176.Google Scholar
Kastellec, Jonathan P., and Leoni, Eduardo L. 2007. “Using Graphs Instead of Tables in Political Science.” Perspectives on Politics 5 (4): 755–771.Google Scholar
Kau, James B., and Rubin, Paul H. 1982. Congressmen, Constituents, and Contributors: Determinants of Roll Call Voting in the House of Representatives. Boston: M. Nijhoff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, Gary, Tomz, Michael, and Wittenberg, Jason. 2000. “Making the Most of Statistical Analyses: Improving Interpretation and Presentation.” American Journal of Political Science 44 (2): 341–355.Google Scholar
Krehbiel, Keith. 1991. Information and Legislative Organization. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krehbiel, Keith. 1993. “Where's the Party?” British Journal of Political Science 23 (2): 235–266.Google Scholar
Krehbiel, Keith. 1998. Pivotal Politics: A Theory of US Lawmaking. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Kroszner, Randall S., and Stratmann, Thomas. 1988. “Interest-Group Competition and the Organization of Congress: Theory and Evidence from Financial Services’ Political Action Committees.” American Economic Review 88 (5): 1163–1187.Google Scholar
Lee, Frances E. 2003. “Geographic Politics in the US House of Representatives: Coalition Building and Distribution of Benefits.” American Journal of Political Science 47 (4): 714–728.Google Scholar
Levs, Josh. 2008. “Big Three Auto Ceos Flew Private Jets to Ask for Taxpayer Money.” Accessed January 4, 2012. Available at: http://articles.cnn.com/2008-11-19/us/autos.ceo.jets_1_private-jets-auto-industry-test-vote?_s=PM:US.Google Scholar
Marley, Michael. 2009. “House OKs Extra $2B in ‘Clunkers’ Funds.” Metal Bulletin Daily Alerts July 31.Google Scholar
Mayhew, David. 1974. Congress: The Electoral Connection. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
McCarty, Nolan M., Poole, Keith T., and Rosenthal, Howard. 2006. Polarized America: The Dance of Ideology and Unequal Riches. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Milyo, Jeffrey, Primo, David, and Groseclose, Timothy. 2000. “Corporate PAC Campaign Contributions in Perspective.” Business and Politics 2 (1): 75–88.Google Scholar
Moore, Ryan T., Neff Powell, Eleanor, and Reeves, Andrew. 2013. “Replication Data for: Driving Support: Workers, PACs, and Congressional Support of the Auto Industry.” Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/1902.1/21320. IQSS Dataverse Network, V1.Google Scholar
Mufson, Steven, Cho, David, and Kang, Cecilia. 2008. “Aid in Hand, Clock Ticks for Detroit, with $17.4 Billion, a Mandate: Restructure by March or Go Bankrupt.” Washington Post, December 20, Met 2 Edition, A01.Google Scholar
Neustadtl, Alan. 1990. “Interest-group PACsmanship: An Analysis of Campaign Contributions, Issue Visibility and Legislative Impact.” Social Forces 69: 549–564.Google Scholar
Obama, Barack. 2009. “Remarks on the US Automobile Industry.” The American Presidency Project. Accessed January 2, 2012. Available at: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=86081st=bailoutst1=Chryslerixzz1iPXW8ohE.Google Scholar
Pitkin, Hanna F. 1972. The Concept of Representation. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Poole, Keith T., and Rosenthal, Howard. 2000. Congress: A Political-Economic History of Roll Call Voting. USA: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Puente, Lucas. 2012. “Political Influence and Tarp: An Analysis of Treasury's Disposition of Cpp Warrants.” PS, Political Science and Politics 45: 211–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reeves, Andrew, and Gimpel, James G. 2012. “Ecologies of Unease: Geographic Context and National Economic Evaluations.” Political Behavior 34 (3): 507–534.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rooney, Ben. 2008. “Poll: 61% Oppose Auto Bailout.” Accessed January 2, 2012. Available at: http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/03/news/economy/automakers_poll/.Google Scholar
Roscoe, Douglas D., and Jenkins, Shannon. 2005. “A Meta-Analysis of Campaign Contributions’ Impact on Roll Call Voting.” Social Science Quarterly 86 (1): 52–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenstone, Steven J., and Hansen, John Mark. 1993. Mobilization, Participation, and Democracy in America. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Ryan, Paul. 2005. “Auto Industry Drives Region's Economy.” Accessed January 6, 2012. Available at: http://paulryan.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=247891.Google Scholar
Saltzman, Gregory M. 1987. “Congressional Voting on Labor Issues: The Role of PACs.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review 40 (2): 163–179.Google Scholar
Schattschneider, E. E. 1975. The Semisovereign People: A Realist's View of Democracy in America. New York: Dryden Press.Google Scholar
Schatz, Joseph J. 2008. “2008 Legislative Summary: Auto Industry Assistance.” CQ Weekly, Dec 8:3267.Google Scholar
Silberman, Jonathan I., and Durden, Garey C. 1976. “Determining Legislative Preferences on the Minimum Wage: An Economic Approach.” Journal of Political Economy 84 (2): 317–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snyder, James M., and Groseclose, Tim. 2000. “Estimating Party Influence in Congressional Roll-Call Voting.” American Journal of Political Science 44 (2): 193–211.Google Scholar
Stratmann, Thomas. 1992. “Are Contributors Rational? Untangling Strategies of Political Action Committees.” Journal of Political Economy 100 (3): 647–664.Google Scholar
Stratmann, Thomas. 1995. “Campaign Contributions and Congressional Voting: Does the Timing of Contributions Matter?” The Review of Economics and Statistics 77 (1): 127–136.Google Scholar
Stratmann, Thomas. 2002. “Can Special Interests Buy Congressional votes? Evidence from Financial Services Legislation.” Journal of Law and Economics 45: 345–373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thornburg, Steven, and Roberts, Robin W. 2008. “Money, Politics, and the Regulation of Public Accounting Services: Evidence from the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.” Accounting, Organizations and Society 33 (2–3): 229–248.Google Scholar
Walmart. 2012. “Walmart Facts.” Accessed January 4, 2012. Available at: http://news.walmart.com/walmart-facts.Google Scholar
Wawro, Gregory. 2001. “A Panel Probit Analysis of Campaign Contributions and Roll-Call Votes.” American Journal of Political Science 45 (3): 563–579.Google Scholar
Witko, Christopher. 2006. “PACs, Issue Context, and Congressional decision making.” Political Research Quarterly 59 (2): 283–295.Google Scholar
Wright, John R. 1989. “PAC Contributions, Lobbying, and Representation.” Journal of Politics 51 (3): 713–729.Google Scholar