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Business, politics and money in Australia: testing economic, political and ideological explanations

McMenamin, Iain (2008) Business, politics and money in Australia: testing economic, political and ideological explanations. Working Papers in International Studies Series. (Paper No. 2008-4). Centre for International Studies, Dublin City University, Ireland.

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Abstract

The flow of business money to political parties is a vital issue for Australian democracy. Nonetheless, there has been no systematic study of why Australian businesses contribute to political parties and why they contribute more to one party than to others. I exploit Australian Electoral Commission data on payments to parties by 450 large businesses over seven years at the Commonwealth and State levels. Economic characteristics (income and sector) are important to understanding which businesses make political contributions. However, they are little help in understanding how businesses distribute their cash. This is best interpreted as an interaction of ideological bias and political pragmatism. If Labor has the political advantage businesses tend to split contributions evenly between the ALP and the Coalition. If the Coalition has the political advantage businesses overwhelmingly target their contributions on the Liberal and National parties.

Item Type:Working Paper (No. 2008-4)
Refereed:No
Subjects:Social Sciences > Political science
DCU Faculties and Centres:Research Initiatives and Centres > Centre for International Studies (CIS) > Working Papers in International Studies Series
Publisher:Centre for International Studies, Dublin City University
Use License:This item is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. View License
ID Code:2141
Deposited On:11 Nov 2008 16:53 by DORAS Administrator . Last Modified 19 Jul 2018 14:42

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  • Business, politics and money in Australia: testing economic, political and ideological explanations. (deposited 11 Nov 2008 16:53) [Currently Displayed]
    • Business, politics and money in Australia: testing economic, political and ideological explanations. (deposited 29 Sep 2008 09:59)

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