Congressional Representation of Alma Maters and Districts: The Political Economy of Federal Funding to Research Universities.” mimeo

Abstract: This paper examines the impact of congressional representation of a university through district representation or an alma mater affiliation on the distribution of research funding to research and doctoral universities in the United States. Because appropriations are allocated to agencies on an annual basis, Congress and agencies may be viewed as strategic actors that seek to minimize as well as exploit their differences in informational asymmetries. Using a data set that covers more than twenty-five years of data, I find there are strong effects from congressional representation on the distribution of research funding. These effects vary based on the type of representation, the seniority of the member serving on the committee, as well as the type of ownership of the university (private or public). Depending on the empirical specification, political diversions of research funding range between four and forty-eight percent. The results suggest that private universities benefit the most from members on the Senate Appropriations Committee with an alma mater affiliation. Public universities benefit the most from members on the Senate Appropriations Committee representing the state in which the university is located and by members on the House Appropriations Committee with a