Skip Nav Destination
Close Modal
Update search
NARROW
Format
Journal
Date
Availability
1-1 of 1
Mitch Downey
Close
Follow your search
Access your saved searches in your account
Would you like to receive an alert when new items match your search?
Sort by
Journal Articles
Publisher: Journals Gateway
The Review of Economics and Statistics 1–38.
Published: 12 May 2022
Abstract
View article
PDF
Politicizing the investigation of politically active groups is harmful for both the justice system and democratic accountability. I test whether members of the US Congress affect the investigation and prosecution of politically active labor unions. Union officers are 1.5 percentage points more likely to be prosecuted when their supported candidate barely loses instead of barely wins (compared to the 3% base rate). Anecdotal evidence and a novel decomposition suggest a role for both union-supported winners protecting allies and union-opposed winners pushing for aggressive prosecution of their opponents. I show prosecutions undermine unions' strength and calculate implications for the incumbency advantage.
Includes: Supplementary data