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Reconceptualizing Pac Formation

It's Not a Collective Action Problem, and It May Be an Arms Race

University of Minnesota

David Lowery

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

After criticizing current models of political action committee (PAC) formation as flawed both in the samples used in tests and in the specifications tested, we develop a new explanation of PAC formation that emphasizes competition for access among those already engaged in lobby ing. We test both organization- and state-level implications of this alternative account, respec tively, employing survey and aggregate data on PACs in the American states. The empirical findings provide preliminary support for our explanation and sharply contradict prior evidence that PAC formation is governed by problems of free riding.

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