Which interests get represented on Congress? Mexican legislators‘backgrounds in interest groups, 2006-2015

Abstract

Most research on lobbying assumes that interest groups act as external actors to Congress. These studies affirm that interest groups affect policymaking through political exchanges or persuasion. Yet we show that interest groups are often represented in the Mexican Legislative. We analyze the careers of 1500 Mexican deputies to explore the relation between political party and interest groups. Theoretically we sustain that political parties give access to interest groups that increase their probability of electoral success and that are close to their preferred policies. We find a close relation between business groups and parties on the right of the political spectrum: specially the Partido Acción Nacional. Also, the results show a greater probability of access of business groups through the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (pri) and the Partido Verde Ecologista de México. In contrast, labor unions and civil groups are represented by leftist parties and the pri.