Legislating like a Business? Assessing Legislative Effectiveness Scores of Businesspeople in Congress

Abstract

Business is one of the most well-represented professional backgrounds in the US Congress, and increasingly so. However, little has been researched on the ways in which businesspeople in Congress may differ from their peers, and such research has typically focused on ideological differences. This study aims to explore whether or not business background is associated with particular outcomes in regards to legislative productivity, as measured by Legislative Effectiveness Scores. A data set was compiled in order to analyze the legislative productivity and professional back- grounds of freshmen legislators over a period of nine Congresses. The results did not indicate a statistically significant association between business background and Legislative Effectiveness Scores. However, given the importance of understanding the role of professional backgrounds in legislative behavior, this study offers a first step in approaching the issue not from an ideological lens, but from an effectiveness lens.