Transformations in
Business & Economics
- © Vilnius University, 2002-2011
- © Brno University of Technology, 2002-2011
- © University of Latvia, 2002-2011
Article
The Effectiveness of Candidate Campaign Expenditure Given Candidate Career Success: An Interaction Term Study of Challengers and Incumbents for US House Elections
Daniel Solomon
ABSTRACT. This paper examines how the effectiveness of a candidate’s campaign expenditure increases in the political career success which the candidate achieved before the election, for both challengers and incumbents, for the 2004 to 2010 US House elections. The previous literature examined this issue with reference to the challenger only. This paper corrects that omission by examining the issue reference to the challenger and incumbent. The main finding is that incumbent campaign expenditure becomes more effective in incumbent career success, and the effectiveness of challenger campaign expenditure increases in challenger career success. This holds in Pooled OLS and in Pooled 2SLS.
KEYWORDS: elections, campaign finance, candidate quality, interaction terms, the USA.
JEL classification: H00, D72, C01.