Examining the relationship between political spending and legislative activities

Lawmakers’ political spending plays an essential role in the representation of the public through legislative activities. Based on a rich dataset from South Korea, this study examines the relationship between political spending and legislative activities in the National Assembly. We focus on lawmakers’ average legislative performance during the term rather than specific roll call votes by adopting novel measurements of legislative productivity and efficiency. We find that the total number of bill proposals increases when political spending increases, suggesting an improvement in lawmakers’ legislative productivity. The timeliness of legislation is enhanced by reducing the processing period. However, little evidence exists that the passing and processing rates of legislation requiring bipartisan collaboration and political compromise are improved. The effects are heterogeneous by legislation and expenditure types, affiliated party, and electoral term. The results indicate that political spending has positive effects on lawmakers’ individual productivity but restrictive effects on legislative efficiency.