(Press-News.org) AUSTIN, Texas — As public concerns mount over lack of transparency in political giving, a new study from researchers at The University of Texas at Austin is the first to illuminate how and why corporations choose to legally conceal their lobbying and campaign contributions.
U.S. companies are required to disclose the total amount they spend on political activity, but beyond that, the disclosure is incredibly vague, according to Tim Werner, associate professor of business, government and society at the McCombs School of Business.
“We don’t even know which individual members of Congress they meet with,” Werner said. “If you’re only looking at observable political activities of corporations, it’s like looking at the tip of the iceberg.”
Below the waterline, Werner and colleagues, Nan Jia of the University of Southern California and Stanislav Markus of the University of South Carolina, found that when corporations conceal their political activities, they may use a wide variety of strategies, including:
Lobbying people who are not obvious political players.
Secretly creating a “citizens coalition” to advocate for their position.
Using obfuscation to spin an issue in their favor.
Contributing to groups that are not legally required to report their donors, known as “dark money” groups.
The research is published in Academy of Management.
How do corporations decide when to use these strategies? The researchers developed a mathematical model of a company’s political decision-making to help predict which activities it’s most likely to hide. Their calculus finds:
The lower the costs of concealment or of being caught, the more likely companies are to attempt it.
Companies are more likely to conceal their activities on issues where they reap most of the benefits or bear most of the costs.
The harder it is to win a lawmaker’s support, the more a company will try to hide its spending to influence that lawmaker.
Werner said this line of research opens an important conversation.
“The more we understand about the reasons a business does or does not conceal its political involvement, the more informed our decision-making around policies related to transparency,” he said.
Read the McCombs Big Ideas story.
MEDIA CONTACT
Jeremy Simon
McCombs School of Business
p: 512-232-6031
e: Jeremy.Simon@mccombs.utexas.edu
END
Study shines light on why companies use a variety of dark money strategies
2023-07-05
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Health professions requiring advanced degrees have few Latinos
2023-07-05
WASHINGTON (July 5, 2023)--Although the situation is improving, Latinos and especially Mexican Americans, remain very underrepresented in U.S. health professions that require advanced degrees, according to a study published today in the journal Health Affairs. The study by George Washington University researchers is the first to examine the representation of the four largest Latino populations in the U.S. health workforce and the findings raise concerns about the lack of diversity in the U.S. health workforce.
The study ...
Fluctuating levels of cholesterol and triglycerides linked to increased risk of dementia
2023-07-05
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2023
MINNEAPOLIS – Older people who have fluctuating levels of cholesterol and triglycerides may have a higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias compared to people who have steady levels, according to new research published in the July 5, 2023, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. While the study found a link, it does not prove that fluctuating levels of cholesterol and triglycerides cause dementia.
“Prevention strategies for Alzheimer’s and related dementias are urgently needed,” ...
Study finds scant coverage for seniors’ mental health care
2023-07-05
Amid heightened demand for mental health care, a new study finds that nearly two-thirds of Medicare Advantage psychiatrist networks contain less than 25% of all psychiatrists in a given service area.
“This means that many people who have coverage through Medicare Advantage plans may not actually have access to psychiatrists, given how few are considered in-network,” said lead author Jane Zhu, M.D., assistant professor of medicine (general internal medicine and geriatrics) in the School of Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University.
The research published today in the July issue of the journal Health Affairs.
Medicare is the federal ...
New study shows Medicaid expansion associated with increase in palliative care for patients with advanced cancers
2023-07-05
ATLANTA, July 5, 2023 – More people with advanced cancers in the United States received critical palliative care services, according to new findings by researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS). Palliative care includes supportive care managed by a healthcare team, such as relief from symptoms, pain, and stress. Researchers also found where a patient lives in the U.S. may determine their use of palliative care. Medicaid expansion under the ACA was associated with the largest increases in palliative care use. The study was published today in the July issue of the journal Health Affairs.
“Our findings are encouraging, especially with growing evidence of the important ...
Taking good care of your teeth may be good for your brain
2023-07-05
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2023
MINNEAPOLIS – Taking good care of your teeth may be linked to better brain health, according to a study published in the July 5, 2023, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study found that gum disease and tooth loss were linked to brain shrinkage in the hippocampus, which plays a role in memory and Alzheimer’s disease. The study does not prove that gum disease or tooth loss causes Alzheimer’s disease; it only shows an association.
“Tooth ...
The time is right to attract new public health workers with evidence-based job descriptions and eye-catching job postings
2023-07-05
July 5, 2023-- Health departments have a historic opportunity to bolster their workforce due to new funding but often do not have accurate or updated job descriptions or short, attention-grabbing job postings to use as marketing tools for recruitment. New research by Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health will help lead to evidence-based job descriptions and postings that health departments can now use.
The study is the first attempt to compile existing occupation-specific job task analyses, lists of competencies, and certifications across multiple job types within governmental public health that can allow comparisons of ...
Know your audience: Why data communication needs to pay attention to novice users
2023-07-05
AMHERST, Mass. – Computer scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently found that data-visualization experts have no agreed-upon understanding of who makes up one of their largest audiences—novice users. The work, which recently won a coveted Best Paper Award at the Association for Computing Machinery’s conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (ACM CHI), is an important first step in ensuring more inclusive data visualizations, and thus data visualization that works for all users.
Data visualization is the representation of data in a ...
New genetic technology developed to halt malaria-spreading mosquitoes
2023-07-05
Malaria remains one of the world’s deadliest diseases. Each year malaria infections result in hundreds of thousands of deaths, with the majority of fatalities occurring in children under five. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced that five cases of mosquito-borne malaria were detected in the United States, the first reported spread in the country in two decades.
Fortunately, scientists are developing safe technologies to stop the transmission of malaria by genetically editing mosquitoes that spread the parasite that causes the disease. Researchers at the University of California San Diego led by Professor Omar Akbari’s laboratory have engineered ...
The Jackson Laboratory wins 2023 Plan Sponsor of the Year award in recognition of employee retirement plan
2023-07-05
The Jackson Laboratory has won the 2023 Plan Sponsor of the Year award in the “Nonprofit Defined Contribution Plans $300 Million and Greater” category. The annual Plan Sponsor of the Year award is presented by PLANSPONSOR magazine, a professional publication that focuses on retirement programs. The award recognizes retirement plan sponsors that show a commitment to their participants’ financial health and retirement success. Winners were announced at the PLANSPONSOR National Conference in Orlando, Fla. on June 21.
“Benefits such as ...
Children’s nature drawings reveal a focus on mammals and birds
2023-07-05
When asked to draw their local wildlife, 401 UK schoolchildren aged 7 to 11 most commonly drew mammals and birds, while amphibians and reptiles appeared in the fewest drawings, suggesting imbalances in children’s ecological awareness. Kate Howlett and Edgar Turner of the University of Cambridge, UK, present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on July 5, 2023.
Prior research has shown that, overall, European and North American children’s access to green space has declined in recent decades, and they are becoming increasingly disconnected from nature. Access ...