Publications [#15991] of Edward Tower

Papers Published

1. Gretchen Phillips and E. Tower, "Labor PAC Campaign Contributions and NAFTA Legislators: Rhetoric or Retribution?", in Empirical Methods In International Trade: Essays in Honor of Mordechai E. Kreinin, edited by Michael Plummer (2004 forthcoming), Edward Elgar [pdf]
   (last updated on 2010/05/14)

   Abstract:
   Prior to the congressional vote, organized labor threatened to punish legislators who voted for NAFTA. Building on work by Engel and Jackson, we explore whether or not organized labor made good on its threat by reducing campaign contributions to House members who voted YES. We postulate contribution functions for both Democrats and Republicans, with pre-NAFTA vote contributions on the horizontal axis and post-NAFTA vote contributions on the vertical axis. For members of both parties, we find that a YES vote on NAFTA results in a change in the contribution function, which is a combination of a downward proportional shift and a downward parallel shift.