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An empirical analysis of bill co-sponsorship in the U.S. Senate: The Tree Act of 2007

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  • Tanger, Shaun M.
  • Laband, David N.

Abstract

Public choice economists view the legislative process as a political market, in which interest groups attempt to influence the production of legislation that has pecuniary and non-pecuniary consequences for them; politicians provide these groups with relevant legislation. In this context, bill co-sponsorship acts as a signal to interest groups that a legislator is working to promote their interests and thereby maximize the payoffs received from such groups. In this paper we seek to identify factors associated with bill co-sponsorship, to determine whether interest group politics significantly explain bill co-sponsorship behavior in the U.S. Senate. Specifically, we examine Senate Bill 402, a bill seeking to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a deduction for qualified timber gains. Senate co-sponsorship decisions concerning S.B. 402 are assessed using a model that identifies various political and industry (forestry) interests/characteristics. We demonstrate that a Senator's co-sponsorship of this bill is correlated with his/her seniority, tax-cutting ideology, strength of electoral victory in his/her most recent election, campaign contributions received from forestry interests, the relative contribution of forestry to Gross State Product, and the percent of total land in his/her state that is privately owned.

Suggested Citation

  • Tanger, Shaun M. & Laband, David N., 2009. "An empirical analysis of bill co-sponsorship in the U.S. Senate: The Tree Act of 2007," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 260-265, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:forpol:v:11:y:2009:i:4:p:260-265
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    1. Shaun M. Tanger & Richard Alan Seals Jr. & David N. Laband, 2011. "Does Bill Co-sponsorship Affect Campaign Contributions?: Evidence from the U.S. House of Representatives, 2000-2008," Auburn Economics Working Paper Series auwp2011-09, Department of Economics, Auburn University.
    2. David Laband & Richard Seals & Eric Wilbrandt, 2015. "On the importance of inequality in politics: duplicate bills and bill co-sponsorship in the US House of Representatives," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 353-378, November.
    3. Zhang, Daowei & Tanger, Shaun, 2017. "Is there a connection between campaign contributions and legislative commitment? An empirical analysis on the cosponsorship activity of the 2007 Tree Act," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(P1), pages 85-94.

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