Detecting the money networks of US politics… David Lazer Northeastern University

The money ecosystem of US politics The network and organizational dimensions

From Lin and Lazer (2010)

Geography of money From Onnela and Lazer (2009)

Enormous regional inequalities… Per capita contributions, zip (Marshall KS) for : Per capita contributions, zip (New York City) for : $4.71 $178.48

Population density, market niches, and collective action If you can’t find a niche in Manhattan, you can’t find it anywhere… The potential of making contributions that are “noticed” The utilization of networks to mobilize people The existence of a critical mass for almost anything (who wants a fundraising party with 3 people?)

The Political-Money networks From Ruths and Lazer (2009)

Prominent pairs… Boston – Ryan Vincent & Carla Meyer - board members Washington DC – Ed Rogers & Lanny Griffith - partners in lobbying firm Los Angeles – Spielberg & Katzenberg - film producers NYC – Debra Black & Judith Hannan - board members

Population density of affluent… A key predictor of per capita contributions is # of affluent per square mile

The organizational dimension

Bottom line… Median voter vs median dollar… Heavy bias toward need to “harvest money” from geographically concentrated top few percent Corporation as setting to mobilize money Democratic bias, because of Democratic tilt of high population density areas

Where now? The Internet and Obama ’08: – the irrelevance of geography? – digging deeper into the income hierarchy? Citizens United – The 1% (or so) vs the.0001% – The importance of very different types of networks and networking behavior