Research

Work in Progress

• Does Access Mean Success? Connection to Policy-Makers and Lobbying Success of Political Actors
  
  Abstract

  This article aims at understanding the policy-making process by examining the relationship between access to policy-makers and lobbying success. I collect unique large-scale textual data on the content of lobbying activities and their subsequent policy changes. I identify instances of lobbying success with two complementary approaches: one based on a plagiarism-detection algorithm and the other on GPT. I match this novel data with meetings held between policy-makers and interest representatives to measure access to policy-makers. It reveals notable disparities in access, with the business sector having more access to policy-makers than the civil society. Moreover, I find that access to policy-makers is associated with a higher likelihood of lobbying success, by 11 percent of one standard deviation. This increased success likelihood is larger for entities with more access, as measured by the number of meetings they have. Distinguishing access to policy-makers contemporaneously or before the discussions on a policy, I find that prior access to policy-makers is also associated with higher chances of success. It suggests that reputation and connection-building play a critical role. These results are driven by the business sector, composed of companies and business associations. It indicates that in addition to having more access to policy-makers and being better politically connected, companies and business associations derive greater benefits from these connections. In contrast, NGOs with access to policy-makers do not display an increased probability of success.

  Upcoming presentations: Development and Political Economics Conference (April 18th, Stanford); COMPTEXT (May 2nd, Amsterdam); European Political Science Association (July 4th, Köln).

• Strategic Complementarity in NGO Advocacy: Evidence from the European Commission
  Abstract

  This article analyzes the advocacy strategies of environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs). I develop a model in which ENGOs can engage in costly advocacy activities to foster pro-environmental policy changes on different dimensions. The model gives insights on their optimal advocacy strategies, and their reaction functions to lobbying from other actors. Combining data on meetings with European Commission members and textual analysis to measure lobbying efforts on different topics, I find support for strategic complementarity of efforts. ENGOs also seem to benefit from lobbying of the business sector on the same topics: it makes their effort more efficient as it contributes to bringing these topics up and helps them get meetings with time-limited attention policymakers.

  Upcoming presentation: EAERE (July 1st, Leuven).

• Revolving Doors in the European Union: Quantification and Consequences, with Jeanne Bomare

• Who lays down the law? Informational lobbying in the French assembly, with Clément Gras

Non-Academic Publications

• Trajectoires vers l’objectif zéro artificialisation nette. Éléments de méthode. (Paths to net zero land take. Methodology.), CGDD, 2019, with Adam Baïz, Charles Claron and Géraldine Ducos. [PDF]
  Media coverage: Les Echos.

• Objectif zéro artificialisation nette: quels leviers pour protéger les sols? (Net zero land take objective: what levers for soil protection?), 2019, France Stratégie. [PDF]
  Media coverage: Le Monde.