Does a congressional committee seat mean more funding for your district? 🎯 Using decades of federal outlay data with a within-member design, this study finds that most committee assignments don't boost spending — except for Appropriations subcommittee chairs (the "cardinals")! 💡 These leaders increase funds specifically from programs under their control. This insight challenges long-held theories about distributive politics and how committees shape policy allocation.
| Cardinals or Clerics? Congressional Committees and the Distribution of Pork was authored by Christopher Berry and Anthony Fowler. It was published by Wiley in AJPS in 2016. |
