Chart of the Day: Lobbying

Today’s Chart of the Day is from Open Secrets and shows the amount of money spent in lobbying our federal government in 2023. We have all heard about the money spent by the Pharmaceutical Industry, but we never see to what degree versus other industries.

Lobbying is part of the “Persuasion Industry” which was studied by McCloskey and Klamer in 1995 and centers around the utility of industries, with examples such as lawyers, actors, professors, salespeople, social media, and advertisers who spend their time trying to persuade the populace.

A paper authored by Gerry Antioch in 2016 made the case for pro-lobbying, which is to educate the populace to make better decisions, but also discusses the cons against lobbying, since it has the power to steer decisions the wrong way. Either way, the paper made the case that over 30% of US GDP is generated from the "Persuasion Industry." Is the extra money we spend on pharmaceuticals well spent on educating our elected officials? It's hard to say. Sure, some of it is, but it's interesting to take into account the higher-than-normal amount nonetheless.