Ep. 8: Wielding charity for political influence

The amount of money in politics seems to grow every year. Spending by outside groups reached a record of half billion dollars in the 2016 elections cycle, and lobbying expenditures regularly exceed $3 billion annually. But economists Marianne Bertrand and Matilde Bombardini argue that a lot of corporate influence is still overlooked. In the July issue of the American Economic Review, they estimate that as much as $1 billion a year of corporate philanthropy is used to sway congressional representatives. For a typical year, that’s over twice as much as contributions form political action committees (PAC). Money from corporate foundations could be having a far reaching effect on how our laws and regulations get written. But unlike traditional lobbying, there are few transparency requirements for such charitable spending. Professors Bertrand and Bombardini recently spoke with the AEA’s Tyler Smith about the political influence that corporations wield through their charities and what can be done about it. Theme music is by Sound of Picture.