Intergovernmental Lobbying in the United States: Assessing the Benefits of Accumulated Knowledge

Abstract

In the last fifteen years, there has been a significant accumulation of research on lobbyists and lobbying offices that represent state and local governments either in Washington or in state capitals. This essay seeks to review the scope of these and earlier efforts and assess where our knowledge is deepest and where significant unanswered questions remain. In general, there is substantially more research on lobbyists who represent governors than those representing other types of public officials. Further, research has paid more attention to lobbying in the federal arena than to lobbying in state capitals. Recent research on local government lobbying, however, has led to significant gains in our ability to measure the financial benefits of intergovernmental lobbying.