辽宁大学经济学前沿高端讲座第十六讲

Moral Hazard and Special Interests in Congress

主讲人：袁海山高级讲师（昆士兰大学经济学院）

主持人：张岸洲助理教授（辽宁大学李安民经济研究院）

嘉宾介绍：马湘君教授（辽宁大学经济学部）

时间：2023年3月17日（周五） 14：00-15：30（北京时间）

地点：腾讯会议：300 7551 6895

语言：中文/英文

摘要：

We exploit the quasi-random timing of natural disasters to study the connection between public attention to politics and legislative support for special interests. We show that when a disaster strikes, the news media reduce both their coverage of politics in general as well as that of individual legislators in particular. At the same time, members of the House of Representatives become significantly more likely to adopt the positions of special-interest donors as they vote on bills. Taken together, the evidence we present suggests that politicians are more inclined to take actions that benefit special interests when the public is distracted. More broadly, our findings suggest that attention to politics improves electoral accountability, even in an environment with stringent transparency and disclosure requirements.

主讲人简介：袁海山，昆士兰大学经济学院高级讲师（Senior Lecturer），澳大利亚国立大学税收与转移政策研究所研究员。博士毕业于马里兰大学，本科毕业于悉尼大学，主要研究领域为政治经济学和发展经济学。多篇论文发表于American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Banking & Finance, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization等国际一流SSCI期刊，主要讲授全球化与经济发展，劳动经济学，公共经济学等课程。