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Clueless Politicians

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  • Cotton, Christopher
  • Li, Cheng

Abstract

We develop a model of policymaking in which a politician decides how much expertise to acquire or how informed to become about issues before interest groups engage in monetary lobbying. For a range of issues, the policymaker prefers to remain clueless about the merits of reform, even when acquiring expertise or better information is costless. Such a strategy leads to intense lobbying competition and larger political contributions. We identify a novel benefit of campaign finance reform, showing how contribution limits decrease the incentives that policymakers have to remain uninformed or ignorant of the issues on which they vote.

Suggested Citation

  • Cotton, Christopher & Li, Cheng, 2016. "Clueless Politicians," Queen's Economics Department Working Papers 274667, Queen's University - Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:quedwp:274667
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.274667
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