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Abstract
My research approaches the question of business influence from three distinct angles. Using I explore whether business leaders hold preferences different from citizens, whether legislators respond to the preferences of business leaders differently than legislators respond to ordinary citizens, and lastly, whether there are circumstances where businesses are able to frame their political involvement such that citizens support disproportionate business influence over policy outcomes.
Using surveys, a field experiment, and a lab experiment, I address each of these questions in turn. In my first study, I simultaneously survey a random sample of citizens, state legislators, and business leaders on a variety of policy preferences to determine whether, and where, differences in policy preferences exist. In my second study, I conduct a field experiment with state legislators, where I ask legislators to answer a series based on an email that could be from a constituent. I vary the status of the letter writer between citizens and business leader and then explore whether responsiveness varies based on the status of the letter writer. Finally, I designed a lab experiment to test whether good corporate citizenship encourages citizens to cede political influence to business leaders.
Overall, my work focuses on whether the reach of business leaders and business influence is a widespread as is often believed. I find that while there is slight evidence that business leaders may be able to exert influence over political outcomes, this influence is slight and context dependent.
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