The claim is often made that self funding of one’s political campaign ameliorates the influence of all the special interests who might otherwise be contributing to the candidate’s efforts. The candidate is beholden to no one, or so the claim goes. But is this really the case? In fact, public choice theory, which, in part, analyzes economic influences on the political process, would argue that instead of being beholden to many contributors, possibly with competing interests, the self funding candidate is only beholden to the interests of one contributor–himself.
by Dr. Roy Cordato
Senior Economist Emeritus