Knowledge of Campaign Finance Regulation and Attitudes towards Politics

25 Pages Posted: 31 Jul 2014 Last revised: 11 Aug 2015

See all articles by Necmi K. Avkiran

Necmi K. Avkiran

University of Queensland - Business School; Financial Research Network (FIRN)

Direnç Kanol

Near East University

Barry R. Oliver

University of Queensland - Business School; Financial Research Network (FIRN)

Date Written: July 31, 2014

Abstract

We use an experimental design to measure how campaign (political) finance regulation influences perceptions of political corruption and trust in politicians when citizens are actually exposed to information about regulation. Unlike most of the observational studies in the literature, results of this experimental study suggest that knowledge of campaign finance regulation substantially reduces citizens’ perceptions of corruption but has only limited effect on trust in politicians. Our findings regarding the positive effect of knowledge of campaign finance regulation on perception of political corruption have crucial and urgent implications for public policy, as well as for informing the public about campaign finance regulation. At a time when public cynicism about politics is high, a significant reduction in perceptions of political corruption through successful dissemination of campaign finance regulation would be a boost to the legitimacy of democracies. The findings, however, suggest that the effect of information on regulation could be dependent on the context.

Keywords: Campaign finance, Regulation, Perceptions of corruption, Political trust, Trust in politicians

JEL Classification: D72, D73, G32, G38

Suggested Citation

Avkiran, Necmi K. and Kanol, Direnç and Oliver, Barry Ross, Knowledge of Campaign Finance Regulation and Attitudes towards Politics (July 31, 2014). 27th Australasian Finance and Banking Conference 2014 Paper, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2474482 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2474482

Necmi K. Avkiran (Contact Author)

University of Queensland - Business School ( email )

Brisbane, Queensland 4072
Australia

Financial Research Network (FIRN) ( email )

C/- University of Queensland Business School
St Lucia, 4071 Brisbane
Queensland
Australia

Direnç Kanol

Near East University ( email )

TRNC/Nicosia, Cyprus
Nicosia
Turkey

Barry Ross Oliver

University of Queensland - Business School ( email )

Brisbane, Queensland 4072
Australia

Financial Research Network (FIRN)

C/- University of Queensland Business School
St Lucia, 4071 Brisbane
Queensland
Australia

HOME PAGE: http://www.firn.org.au

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