Description

A hallmark of American democracy is political responsiveness to public demands — the idea that legislators in particular should vote in the manner dictated by their constituents. But in recent decades, a significant number of former legislators have taken lucrative positions at top lobbying firms and private companies, earning hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars per year. Commentators have pointed out that ex-legislators frequently work for companies they helped while in office, raising suspicions that legislators are engaged in a quid pro quo with special interests — with dire political consequences. This lecture presents research challenging this conventional wisdom and provides an alternative framework in which special interests help guarantee — not destroy — representative government in America.