Congressional Campaign Spending and the Quality of Democracy
Author(s): John J. Coleman and Paul F. Manna
Source: The Journal of Politics, Vol. 62, No. 3 (Aug., 2000), pp. 757-789
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Southern Political Science
Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2647959
Their result is that more spending does have some positive outcomes, based on survey data of various types of political attitudes. Based on 1994-1996 House Elections only.
How they state their claim "Despite the concerns of reformers, we find that campaign spending produces generally beneficial effects. Campaign spending contributes importantly to key aspects of democracy and political community such as knowledge and affect, while not damaging public trust or involvement."
Did they get the direction of causation right? Need to check that higher spending not a result of higher contributions which is a result of higher levels of all these variables...
