Conventional wisdom holds that interested money has a corrupting influence on American politics.
PAC and soft money contributions are likened to bribes, while elective offices seem to be auctioned to the highest bidder. Further, popular dissatisfaction with campaign finance has been cited as a source of alienation among voters and the cause of declining voter participation and trust in government. In this talk, Professor Milyo illustrated that there is little empirical support for these claims. For example, Milyo found that the marginal value of an individual or PAC contribution is quite small, both to the recipient and to the donor. In part, this is because current law limits the size of such contributions.