eprintid: 48741 rev_number: 5 eprint_status: archive userid: 1482 importid: 105 dir: disk0/00/04/87/41 datestamp: 2024-03-07 10:45:18 lastmod: 2024-03-07 10:45:18 status_changed: 2024-03-07 10:45:18 type: monograph metadata_visibility: show creators_name: Thieme, Sebastian creators_idrefppn: 259940348 creators_halaffid: 506116 title: (When) are Lobbying Expenditures a Good Proxy for Lobbying Activity? ispublished: pub subjects: subjects_ECO abstract: Lobbying expenditures are widely used as a proxy variable for measuring lobbying ac-tivity. However, the validity of this approach has rarely been examined and existing justifications do not account for heterogeneity in lobbyist compensation formats. I address the question using unique lobbying disclosure data from Wisconsin, where lob-bying organizations report both hours worked and payments received by their lobbyists. Strong overall correlations between changes in expenditures and hours worked within organization-lobbyist dyads indicate that lobbying expenditures can serve as a reason-able proxy. However, caution is warranted due to substantial heterogeneity, with con-tract lobbyist relationships exhibiting weaker correlations than in-house relationships. I conclude by providing several suggestions to improve empirical analyses using lobbying expenditures. date: 2024-02 date_type: published publisher: IAST Working Paper official_url: http://iast.fr/pub/129157 faculty: tse divisions: tse language: en has_fulltext: TRUE view_date_year: 2024 full_text_status: public monograph_type: working_paper series: IAST Working Paper volume: 24-160 place_of_pub: Toulouse pages: 29 institution: Université Toulouse Capitole department: Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse book_title: IAST Working Paper oai_identifier: oai:tse-fr.eu:129157 harvester_local_overwrite: department harvester_local_overwrite: pending harvester_local_overwrite: creators_idrefppn harvester_local_overwrite: creators_halaffid harvester_local_overwrite: institution harvester_local_overwrite: place_of_pub harvester_local_overwrite: pages oai_lastmod: 2024-03-01T11:54:37Z oai_set: tse site: ut1 citation: Thieme, Sebastian (2024) (When) are Lobbying Expenditures a Good Proxy for Lobbying Activity? IAST Working Paper, n. 24-160, Toulouse document_url: https://publications.ut-capitole.fr/id/eprint/48741/1/wp_iast_160.pdf