Campaign Spending Limits, Incumbent Spending, and Election Outcomes

We study the impact of campaign spending limits for candidates in Canadian federal elections. We first demonstrate that spending limits are binding mostly for incumbent candidates. We then use this information to produce endogeneity-corrected estimates for the impact of incumbent spending on electoral vote shares. Furthermore, we examine the impact of spending limits on broader measures of electoral outcomes, finding that larger limits lead to less close elections, fewer candidates, and lower voter turnout. Milligan is also affiliated with the NBER. We thank two anonymous referees, the editor, and participants at the CEA conference, the WEA conference, and the UBC empirical lunch seminar for comments. Funding from SSHRC is gratefully acknowledged