Croley, Steven --- "Interest Groups and Public Choice" [2010] ELECD 309; in Farber, A. Daniel; O’Connell, Joseph Anne (eds), "Research Handbook on Public Choice and Public Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010)

Book Title: Research Handbook on Public Choice and Public Law

Editor(s): Farber, A. Daniel; O’Connell, Joseph Anne

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847206749

Section: Chapter 2

Section Title: Interest Groups and Public Choice

Author(s): Croley, Steven

Number of pages: 39

Extract:

2 Interest groups and public choice
Steven Croley1


Introduction
Interest groups constitute a recurrent ­ and periodically dominant ­ unit of analysis
in American political economy. Along with voters, politicians, and regulators, inter-
est groups complete the cast of politics, and thus command scholarly attention. As
everybody knows, interest groups abound, they participate in all spheres of political
decision-making, and they influence the development and execution of public policy in
the United States. That may understate it: according to many, interest groups enjoy too
much influence on public policymakers, which is one reason they deserve so much atten-
tion. Indeed, the so-called `interest group theory' is, boiled down, a claim about interest
groups' corrosive effects on the political process.
Yet there is still much we do not know. Interest groups exist, of course ­ we can
observe them ­ but we are not always certain how. Interest groups participate in gov-
ernmental decision-making processes, yes, but we are not exactly sure why. And interest
groups shape policy, but we cannot say just when or how much. Much work, conceptual
and empirical, remains.
This chapter reviews some of the most influential analyses of political interest groups,
influential especially in much legal literature. Space and purpose do not call for an
exhaustive review of the expansive (sub)literature(s) on interest groups. Instead, using
very select works, this chapter focuses on one vision of interest groups that resonates
with the public choice orientation of this volume, and that has shown considerable, yet
undue, ...