Presidential Campaign Fundraising
Campaign finances have been an popular issue in this year’s Presidential Campaigns.
On one hand, Donald Trump has been trying to make the case that he is a good candidate since his wealth has allowed him to remain financially independent from other companies/individuals. On the other hand, Bernie has been making that case, as president, he would not be biased to make policy to help the few wealthy since the vast majority of his donations come from small donors.
The cases the presidential candidates have been making relate to our discussion of analyzing the power of one person over another using a network. In the network of donors and presidential candidates, wealthy donors establish control of presidential candidates by giving large sums of money that will help the president market him/her self, and hopefully get elected for president. Wealthy donors expect the president then to implement policy, such as lowering tax for the wealthy, that will help them. Trump and Bernie are hoping to get elected by exposing their opposing candidates’ allegiances with their few wealthy donors.
Wealthy donors giving to presidential candidates demonstrates some of the principles of auctions that we discussed in class. One could model it as an auction in which presidential candidates are the good, and donors are the buyers. The donors submit their prices (representing their donations) to the presidential candidate. Unlike in other auction, in this auction, the donor pays whether or not he wins. If the donor was one of the most generous, and the president wins the presidential race, then he gets to promote his political objectives, whether they be economical or social, with the president.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/election-2016-campaign-money-race.html