Lobbying: Microeconomic Evidence

The present thesis is an empirical analysis of lobbying in the United States. First, it analyses an added value of lobbyists' specialisation and connections to congressmen using a method of matching. Second, it extends the analysis by studying the impact of competition for access to congressmen on the added value of lobbyists. Third, it analyses lobbying from the point of view of congressmen by studying the impact of their specialisation on committee assignments on the amount of campaign financing they obtain from lobbyists. The analysis is done using data about lobbying reports as well as committee assignments of congressmen and campaign contributions they obtain from lobbyists in the 106th to 110th congress, corresponding to years 1999-2008. The present thesis also provides a brief summary of related literature analysing different aspects of lobbying