A Dead Senator Tells No Lies
Seniority and the Distribution of Federal Benefits
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6232008 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Brian E Roberts (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1990 |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 31 |
| Publication date | 1990-02-01 |
| 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 | 10.2307/2111510 |
| OpenAlex | W1973447795 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 77 |
| References cited | 26 |
Empirical studies of distributive politics fail to offer any systematic evidence of a relationship between committee seniority in Congress and the geographic distribution of federal benefits. These findings are at odds with many descriptive accounts of the seniority norm for which such a relationship is a presupposition. Evidence and intuition appear at odds with each other. This study offers a partial reconciliation. The death of Senator Henry Scoop Jackson provides the somewhat macabre backdrop to a novel empirical examination of the seniority/benefit relationship. Evidence is provided through stock market reactions to Jackson's death across various constituent interests of Henry Jackson and Sam Nunn, Jackson's successor as ranking minority member on the Senate Armed Services Committee. The results support the hypothesis that a seniority/benefit relationship exists
Economics · Logistic regression · Odds · Political science · Seniority · Statistics · Successor cardinal · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Fiscal Policies and Political Economy · Law · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies
The culture of political connections, financing constraints, and performance
Distributive Politics
Greasing the Wheels
Genre analysis, and the social sciences
Long-Term Investing in Politicians; Or, Give Early, Give Often
The value of connections in turbulent times
Do Politically Connected Boards Affect Firm Value?
Estimating the Value of Political Connections
Politically Connected Boards of Directors and The Allocation of Procurement Contracts
The governance and performance of universities
Committee Assignments, Constituent Preferences, and Campaign Contributions
Politically Connected Firms
Political connections and preferential access to finance
The Power of the Street
Diamonds Are Forever, Wars Are Not
Administrative embedding and employee health protection in China
Export as shelter from domestic corruption
Intolerance, xenophobia and cross-border supermarket groups’ operations in South Africa
The revolving door of former civil servants and firm value
The Intergenerational Effects of Political Influence
The impact of political majorities on firm value
A literature review on political uncertainty and stock market behaviour
Why is there a seniority system? To solve an agency problem
Gerontocracy in a comparative perspective
Congressional Careers, Committee Assignments, and Seniority Randomization in the US House of Representatives
Political Capital
Political Spending and Shareholder Wealth
Local champions and change of governments
Does a firm's political connection to government have economic value
Does a firm's political connection to government have economic value
Electoral goals and center-state transfers
Building networks
Political connections, financing and firm performance
The Underbelly of Congressional Pork
Coordination dilemmas and the valuation of women in the U.S. Senate
Special-interest groups and growth
Allocation patterns of PAC monies
Macroeconomic conditions and committee re-election rates
Uncontestable favoritism
Congressional distributive politics and state economic performance
Interest group activity and long-run stock market performance
The policy impact of unified government
Dead money
Seniority, political experience, and support for government spending in the US House
A probit analysis of the Senate vote on Gramm-Rudman
Friends in high places
Betting on a Princeling
Legislative influence on administrative decision making in Pennsylvania's Abandoned and Orphan Well Plugging Program
Do Powerful Politicians Cause Corporate Downsizing
Incorporated in Westminster
Deterrent effects of targeted sanctions by mainland China on Taiwan
Economic Returns to Communist Party Membership
Trading Places
Different Houses
Women, Earmarks, and Substantive Representation
Do Individual Representatives Influence Government Transfers? Evidence from Japan
Capitol Losses
Secretaries of Pork? A New Theory of Distributive Public Policy
Politics in the Boardroom
Lobbying from Inside the System
Bureaucratic Accommodation of Congress and the President
The Value of Majority Status
The Distributive Politics of Cold War Defense Spending
Agency policy preferences, congressional letter-marking and the allocation of distributive policy benefits
Moonlighting Politicians
The cost of presidential impeachment to politically connected firms
Firms and Social Protection
Why Corporate Political Connections Can Impede Investment
Political Institutions, Policy Expectations, and the 1980 Election
Political Determinants of Economic Exchange
Signaling through Obstruction
Policy and Pork
Direct and Indirect Representation
Political Influence and Tarp
The Economic Benefits of Political Connections in Late Victorian Britain
MPs for Sale? Returns to Office in Postwar British Politics
The Returns to Office in a "Rubber Stamp" Parliament
Using daily stock returns
Equilibrium in a Capital Asset Market
General Conditions for Global Intransitivities in Formal Voting Models
An Efficient Method of Estimating Seemingly Unrelated Regressions and Tests for Aggregation Bias
Home Style
An economic theory of democracy
Gatekeeping and Monopoly Power of Committees
Structure-induced equilibrium and legislative choice
History of the House of Representatives
Congress
The Giant Jigsaw Puzzle
Bureaucratic Discretion or Congressional Control? Regulatory Policymaking by the Federal Trade Commission
Congressional committees and the inter-state distribution of military spending
Complex Rules and Congressional Outcomes
What Was It worth to Be on a Committee in the U. S. House, 1889 to 1913
American Business, Public Policy, Case-Studies, and Political Theory
Organizational Attributes of Legislatures
Congressional Oversight Overlooked
A Theory of Competition Among Pressure Groups for Political Influence
The Aging of the House
Federal Spending in Congressional Districts
The Seniority System in Congress
Legislators and Interest Groups
Military Committee Membership and Defense-Related Benefits in the House of Representatives
| Unique citing works | 77 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,14 |
| Citation span | 1990 - 2026 (37) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 76 |