Electoral Contests, Incumbency Advantages, and Campaign Finance

• Published in: The Journal of politics Vol. 70; no. 3; pp. 681 - 699
• Main Author: Meirowitz, Adam
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01.07.2008; University of Chicago Press
• Subjects: Campaign finance reform; Candidates; Commitments; Competition; Cost analysis; Elections; Electoral campaign financing; Electoral campaigning; Electoral reform; Expected utility; Financial Support; Incumbents; Marginal costs; Measurement; Mixed strategy; Modeling; Perceptions; Political Campaigns; Political candidates; Preferences; Probability; Reform; Spending; Voter behavior; Voting; Voting behaviour

Most campaigns do not revolve around policy commitments; instead, we think of campaigns as contests in which candidates spend time, energy, and money to win. This paper develops models of electoral competition in which candidates select levels of effort. The analysis offers insights about which caus...