Skip to main content

Economic Power and the Political Process

  • Chapter
Book cover Market Power and the Economy

Part of the book series: Recent Economic Thought Series ((RETH,volume 15))

  • 66 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter is an essay in political economy—specifically, the political economy of power. It is an examination of how the “Golden Rule of Politics” (cited above) really works. It is, therefore, an exploration of the impact of economic power on political processes.

Economics as a separate science is unrealistic, and misleading if taken as a guide in practice, his one element—a very important element, it is true—in a wider study, the science of power.—Bertrand Russell

The Golden Rule of Politics—he who has the gold, rules.—Mark Green

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Notes

  1. John Kenneth Galbraith, The Anatomy of Power (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1983), pp. 113–114.

    Google Scholar 

  2. C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite (New York: Oxford University Press, 1956), p. 108.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Randall Bartlett, Economic Foundations of Political Power (New York: The Free Press, 1973), p. 156.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Galbraith, Anatomy..., p. 5.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Ibid., p. 6.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Nicholas Mercuro, “Contributions to Law and Economics: A Survey of Recent Books,” The Journal of Economic Education Vol. 17, No. 4, Fall, 1986, p. 297.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Warren J. Samuels, “Welfare Economics, Power, and Property,” in Warren J. Samuels and A. Allan Schmid (Eds.), Law and Economics: An Institutional Perspective (Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishing, 1981), p. 44.

    Google Scholar 

  8. The Wall Street Journal April 28, 1987, p. 4.

    Google Scholar 

  9. B.F. Skinner, Beyond Freedom and Dignity (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1971), p. 215.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Mills, The Power Elite pp. 346–347.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Elizabeth Drew, Politics and Money (New York: Macmillan, 1983), p. 146.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Sidney Blumenthal, The Rise of the Counter-Establishment (New York: Times Books, 1986), p. 32.

    Google Scholar 

  13. William J. Lanouette, “The ‘Shadow Cabinets’—Changing Themselves as They Try to Change Policy,” National Journal Vol. 10, Feb. 25, 1978, p. 296.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Dom Bonafede, “Issue-Oriented Heritage Foundation Hitches Its Wagon To Reagan’s Star,” National Journal Vol. 14, March 20, 1982, p. 507.

    Google Scholar 

  15. The Heritage Foundation, 1986 Annual Report p. 2.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Robert K. Landers, “Think Tanks: The New Partisans?” Editorial Research Reports Vol. 1, No. 23, June 20, 1986, p. 467.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Bonafede, “Issue-Oriented...,” p. 502.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Ibid., p. 504.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Micheal R. Gordon, “Right-of-Center Defense Groups—The Pendulum has Swung Their Way,” National Journal Vol. 13, No. 4, January 24, 1981, p. 129.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Blumenthal,...Counter-Establishment p. 48.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Ibid. pp. 306–308.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Ibid., pp. 49–50.

    Google Scholar 

  24. A useful discussion of the growth and influence of conservative think tanks is contained in Thomas Byrne Edsall, The New Politics of Inequality (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1984), pp. 117–120.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Blumenthal,...Counter-Establishment pp. 48–50.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Gary C. Jacobson, “Money in the 1980 and 1982 Congressional Elections,” in Michael J. Malbin (Ed.), Money and Politics in the United States (Chatham, NJ: Chatham House Publishers, Inc., 1984), p. 65.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Michael Malbin, “Introduction,” in Malbin (Ed.), Money..., pp. 7–9.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Marc Leepson, “Campaign Finance Debate,” Editorial Research Reports Vol. 1, No. 12, March 29, 1985, p. 235.

    Google Scholar 

  30. The Federal Election Commission, Common Cause, and The Congressional Quarterly Press are prolific sources of information on the role of PAC’s in campaign finance. Other campaign “watchdogs” such as the Public Affairs Council, Citizens’ Research Foundation, and the League of Women Voters have also sponsored and published helpful PAC information.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Leepson, “Campaign Finance Debate,” p. 239, and Federal Election Commission, Record February, 1987, p. 10.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Michael J. Malbin and Thomas W. Skladony, “Appendix: Selected Campaign Finance Data,” in Malbin, Money..., p. 296.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Jacobson, “Money...,” p. 39.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Common Cause, April 7, 1987, press release.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Margaret Ann Latus, “Assessing Ideological PACs: From Outrage to Understanding,” in Malbin, Money..., p. 143.

    Google Scholar 

  37. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Common Cause, April 7, 1987, press release.

    Google Scholar 

  39. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  40. Jacobon, “Money...,” p. 45.

    Google Scholar 

  41. Theodore J. Eismeier and Philip H. Pollock III, “Politics and Markets: Corporate Money in American National Elections,” British Journal of Political Science Vol. 16, June, 1986, p. 292 (footnote 18).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Fred Seigel, “‘Republicanizing’ the Democrats,” Dissent Summer, 1985, p. 301.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Thomas Byrne Edsall, The New Politics of Inequality (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1984), pp. 21–22.

    Google Scholar 

  44. Drew, Politics..., p. 5.

    Google Scholar 

  45. This point is made cogently in Grant McConnell, Private Power and American Democracy (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1967), pp. 129–130.

    Google Scholar 

  46. Campbell R. McConnell, Economics 10th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1986), p. 710.

    Google Scholar 

  47. Edsall, The New Politics..., p. 113.

    Google Scholar 

  48. James Q. Wilson (Ed.), The Politics of Regulation (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1980) offers a set of analytical papers on a variety of regulatory activities. Wilson’s summary chapter offers a “balanced” appraisal of the regulatory effort.

    Google Scholar 

  49. G. McConnell, Private Power..., p. 287.

    Google Scholar 

  50. George Stigler, “The Theory of Economic Regulation,” Bell Journal of Economics and Management Science Vol. 2, Spring, 1971, p. 3, as quoted in Wilson, Politics..., p. 358.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Walter Adams and James W. Brock, The Bigness Complex (New York: Pantheon Books, 1986), p. 228.

    Google Scholar 

  52. Henry L. Bretton, The Power of Money (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1980), p. 323.

    Google Scholar 

  53. G. McConnell, Private Power..., p. 289.

    Google Scholar 

  54. Quoted in Michael Pertschuk, Revolt Against Regulation: The Rise and Pause of the Consumer Movement (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982), p. 60.

    Google Scholar 

  55. Pertschuk cites Thomas Edsall, “Business Learns to Play New Politics,” Baltimore Sun February 25, 1980, p. A7, as his source.

    Google Scholar 

  56. Henry J. Friendly, The Federal Administrative Agencies (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1962), p. 97, as quoted in G. McConnell, Private Power..., p. 286.

    Google Scholar 

  57. See, for example, discussion of political influence in the selection of Anne Gorsuch as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, in Jonathan Lash, et al., A Season of Spoils; The Reagan Administrations Attack on the Environment (New York: Pantheon Books, 1984), pp. 9–14.

    Google Scholar 

  58. Adams and Brock, The Bigness Complex p. 260.

    Google Scholar 

  59. Discussion of subversion of environmental regulations, for example, can be found in Lash, et al., Season of Spoils..., and in Friends of the Earth, Ronald Reagan and the American Environment (San Francisco: Friends of the Earth, 1982).

    Google Scholar 

  60. Bryan Burrough, “Mine-Safety Agency Disbands Sleuth Squad Despite Its Big Success,” The Wall Street Journal June 1, 1987, pp. 1 and 10.

    Google Scholar 

  61. Ibid., p. 1.

    Google Scholar 

  62. Drew, Politics and Money p. 21.

    Google Scholar 

  63. Lash, Season of Spoils p. 42.

    Google Scholar 

  64. Edsall, The New Politics... p. 119.

    Google Scholar 

  65. Ibid., p. 216.

    Google Scholar 

  66. Ibid., p. 217.

    Google Scholar 

  67. Adams and Brock, The Bigness Complex p. 339.

    Google Scholar 

  68. Ibid., pp. 274–275.

    Google Scholar 

  69. One such helpful survey is Nicholas Mercuro and Timothy P. Ryan, Law, Economics and Public Policy (Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, Inc., 1984).

    Google Scholar 

  70. Ibid., p. IX.

    Google Scholar 

  71. Certainly that is one inference one may draw from John R. Commons, The Legal Foundations of Capitalism (New York: Macmillan, 1924).

    Google Scholar 

  72. Warren J. Samuels, “Interrelations Between Legal and Economic Processes” in Samuels and Schmid (Eds.), Law and Economics..., p. 100.

    Google Scholar 

  73. R. H. Coase, “The Problem of Social Cost,” The Journal of Law and Economics Vol. 3, October, 1960, pp. 1–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  74. Richard A. Posner, Economic Analysis of Law (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1972).

    Google Scholar 

  75. Mark Kuperberg and Charles Beitz (Eds.), Law, Economics, and Philosophy: A Critical Introduction, with Applications to the Law of Torts (Totowa, NJ: Rowman & Allanheld, 1983), p. 5.

    Google Scholar 

  76. Ibid., p. 6.

    Google Scholar 

  77. Jules L. Coleman, “The Economic Analysis of Law,” in J. Roland Pennock and John W. Chapman (Eds.), Ethics, Economics, and the Law (New York: New York University Press, 1982), pp. 96–97.

    Google Scholar 

  78. Robert H. Bork, The Antitrust Paradox (New York: Basic Books, 1978), pp. 206–206, as quoted in Adams and Brock, The Bigness Complex pp. 158–159.

    Google Scholar 

  79. Paul Burrows and Cento G. Veljanovski (Eds.), The Economic Approach to Law (London: Butterworth, 1981), p. 134, as quoted in Nicholas Mercuro, “Contributions...,” p. 304.

    Google Scholar 

  80. Warren J. Samuels, “Welfare Economics...,” p. 30.

    Google Scholar 

  81. H.L. A. Hart, “American Jurisprudence Through English Eyes: The Nightmare and the Noble Dream,” Georgia Law Review Vol. 11, 1977, pp. 988–989,

    Google Scholar 

  82. as quoted in E.J.P. Mackaay, Economics of Information and Law (Montreal: Groupe de Recherche en Consommation, 1980), pp. 94–95.

    Google Scholar 

  83. Bartlett, Economic Foundations..., p. 196.

    Google Scholar 

  84. Professor Bruce A. Ackerman, as quoted in Paul M. Barrett, “A Movement Called Law and Economics Sways Legal Circles,” The Wall Street Journal August 4, 1986, p. 1.

    Google Scholar 

  85. Ibid. pp. 1 and 14.

    Google Scholar 

  86. Mills, The Power Elite, p. 6.

    Google Scholar 

  87. Samuels, “Welfare Economics...,” p. 34.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1988 Kluwer Academic Publishers

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Petr, J.L. (1988). Economic Power and the Political Process. In: Peterson, W.C. (eds) Market Power and the Economy. Recent Economic Thought Series, vol 15. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2673-8_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2673-8_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-7705-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-2673-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics