Politico: Precisely how do private companies benefit from access to federal officials? Surprisingly, beyond anecdotal stories, it has been difficult to know; there had been no irrefutable data on how firms’ access to the White House translates into private gains—until… Continue reading

Lynn Vavreck for NYT’s The Upshot: Despite the robust record of these models, they didn’t get much attention leading up to 2016. Mr. Trump was such a nontraditional candidate — in his fund-raising; support for atypical G.O.P. positions on trade… Continue reading

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy blogs.

Very nice treatment of the case:  Vote buying, a practice carried over from England’s early experiments with democracy, was widespread in United States elections until the modern era.. A 1905 study of a New York City election, for example, found… Continue reading