The Electoral Dynamics of the Federal Pork Barrel
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6231970 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kenneth N Bickers, Robert M Stein (0000-0001-9586-380X) |
| Year | 1996 |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 1300 |
| Publication date | 1996-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0092-5853 • E-ISSN: 1540-5907 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/2111752 |
| OpenAlex | W1969768715 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 129 |
| References cited | 19 |
Theory: This paper articulates a model of distributive policy activity that links decreases in the flow of distributive policy benefits to House districts to an increased likelihood that quality challengers will oppose incumbents in primary and/ or general elections. Hypotheses: Do electorally vulnerable legislators seek to increase the flow of new awards early in the subsequent electoral cycle in order to help overcome their vulnerability? Do heightened levels of new awards reduce the probability that incumbent legislators will face quality challengers in upcoming primary or general elections? Methods: Congressional district-level data on new awards, where the time from application to final award was less than four months, are regressed on electoral margins, open-seat status, and political action committee campaign contributions for the 100th and 101st Congresses. Results: The flow of new awards early in a Congressional term is higher in districts where the incumbent was elected in an open seat race and when the open seat incumbent was elected by a narrow margin. This is especially true of programs in the Small Business Administration that provide loans and loan guarantees to small businesses. While only a minority of incumbents typically face quality challengers, high levels of new awards early in the Congressional term reduce the likelihood that incumbents will face quality challengers in the subsequent primary or general election. Increases in the number of discretionary awards going to recipients other than small businesses tend to be more useful in fending off quality challengers than loans and loan guarantees from the Small Business Administration
Administration (probate law · Business · Business cycle · Demographic economics · Economics · Face (sociological concept · Loan · Macroeconomics · Margin (machine learning · Order (exchange · Political science · Politics · Quality (philosophy · Sociology · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Finance · Law · Policy Transfer and Learning · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies · Public Administration
Distributive Politics
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Responsive States
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Shaping Appropriations
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Voting's Rewards
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Return to Spender
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Congressional modification of benefit-cost analysis as a vehicle for particularized benefits and a limitation on agency discretion
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Electoral Benefits of Pork Barrel Politics in the US
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District Size and Proximity to the Pork Barrel in Congressional Elections
Explaining How Subnational Politics Shapes Committee Assignment in a Federal Country
The Partisanship of House Committees and Member Self‐Selection
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The Presidential Pork Barrel and the Conditioning Effect of Term
The Contemporary Presidency
Career motives of presidential appointees and agency communication across American states
Technical Management in an Age of Openness
Contracts, Agency Vulnerability, and the Allocation of Federal Funds
Electoral systems and geographically targeted oversight
Geographic Politics in the U.S. House of Representatives
Aid for incumbents
Electoral misgovernance cycles
Granting votes
Elections and the Politics of Pork in the U.S. Senate
Legislative influence on administrative decision making in Pennsylvania's Abandoned and Orphan Well Plugging Program
Understanding public blame attributions when private contractors are responsible for civilian casualties
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Earmarks and Elections to the U.S. House of Representatives
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Giving the People What They Want? The Distribution of Earmarks in the U.S. House of Representatives
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Nyc 311
Exchange Theory, Political Parties, and the Allocation of Federal Distributive Benefits in the House of Representatives
The Congressional Pork Barrel in a Republican Era
Organized Interests and the Politics of Federal Discretionary Grants
Secretaries of Pork? A New Theory of Distributive Public Policy
Pork Barreling Is Not Credit Claiming or Advertising
Representation and Public Policy
Strategic States
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Congress
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The Personal Vote
Strategic Decisions on Candidacy in U. S. Congressional Districts
Explaining Challenger Quality in Congressional Elections
Preempting Quality Challengers in House Elections
Is There Such a Thing as a Safe Seat
Some Problems in Studying the Effects of Resource Allocation in Congressional Elections
A Dynamic Analysis of The Role of War Chests in Campaign Strategy
Political Parties and the Distribution of Federal Outlays
Policy and Pork
Political Preferences for the Pork Barrel
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| Unique citing works | 129 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 4,61 |
| Citation span | 1998 - 2026 (29) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 129 |