Foundations of a Political Strategy for Business

This quote appears in the letterhead of ARCO's monthly Civic Action Program reports.

For one of the first important books on this, see Buchanan James Tullock Gordon , Calculus of Consent (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1962).

A well-accepted scholarly journal entitled Public Choice has been published since the late 1960s. Another popular outlet for research in this area is the Journal of Political Economy.

See ISR Newsletter, Autumn 1979, University of Michigan, pp. 4–5. Also see Miller Warren , “Crisis of Confidence II—Misreading the Public Pulse,” Public Opinion, Vol. 2, No. 5 (October/November 1979), pp. 9–16.

For an early discussion of information and voter behavior, see Downs Anthony , An Economic Theory of Democracy (New York: Harper & Row, 1957), pp. 214–218, 241–247.

Federal campaign laws restrict the communications a corporation or corporate PAC may have with non-exempt employees. Some of these employees, particularly in nonunionized work forces, may nonetheless have political interests sympathetic to the company.

A recent Federal Election Commission ruling has clarified the way in which corporations may communicate politicians' views to public audiences. See FEC Advisory Opinion 1979–80.

For a more detailed discussion of present advocacy advertising efforts, see “Improving the Return on Advocacy Advertising,” Keim G. Zeithaml V. , Texas A&M mimeograph (April 1980).

For an excellent discussion of the growth in corporate PACs and their expenditure patterns see Epstein Edwin M. , “An Irony of Electoral Reform,” Regulation (May-June 1979), pp. 35–43.

See Welch William , “The Economics of Campaign Funds,” Public Choice Vol. 20 (Winter 1974), pp. 83–97.