Publicação
Efeitos do lobbying no crescimento e na desigualdade
| Resumo: | Lobbying plays an increasingly prominent role in public decision-making processes, yet its economic and distributive effects remain controversial. Although it can provide specialised information and support the formulation of public policies, it may also favour particular interests, reinforce market positions and undermine economic efficiency. Given the scarcity of empirical evidence in the European context, this Project Report examines the relationship between lobbying expenditures and intensity, economic growth and income inequality in the Member States of the European Union. For this purpose, a panel dataset was constructed for the 27 EU Member States over the period 2013–2024, combining information from the EU Transparency Register with indicators of inequality, employment, social expenditure and other relevant control variables. The econometric strategy employs fixed-effects models, complemented by System GMM augmented with cross-sectional averages, in order to account for temporal persistence, potential endogeneity and common shocks across countries. The results indicate a positive and robust association between lobbying expenditure and economic growth. With regard to inequality, no robust relationship is identified with the Gini coefficient of disposable income, whereas the Gini coefficient of market income displays a negative and statistically significant association. The number of persons involved in lobbying activities does not produce consistent results, suggesting that the relationship between lobbying and economic performance varies according to the dimension analysed and should be interpreted with caution. The study thus contributes to the still limited macroeconomic understanding of lobbying activity in the European Union. |
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| Autores principais: | Fernandes, Rita Gonçalves |
| Assunto: | Lobbying na UE desigualdade crescimento económico despesas em Lobbying EU lobbying economic growth lobbying expenditure |
| Ano: | 2026 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | dissertação de mestrado |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso aberto |
| Instituição associada: | Universidade de Coimbra |
| Idioma: | português |
| Origem: | Estudo Geral - Universidade de Coimbra |
| Resumo: | Lobbying plays an increasingly prominent role in public decision-making processes, yet its economic and distributive effects remain controversial. Although it can provide specialised information and support the formulation of public policies, it may also favour particular interests, reinforce market positions and undermine economic efficiency. Given the scarcity of empirical evidence in the European context, this Project Report examines the relationship between lobbying expenditures and intensity, economic growth and income inequality in the Member States of the European Union. For this purpose, a panel dataset was constructed for the 27 EU Member States over the period 2013–2024, combining information from the EU Transparency Register with indicators of inequality, employment, social expenditure and other relevant control variables. The econometric strategy employs fixed-effects models, complemented by System GMM augmented with cross-sectional averages, in order to account for temporal persistence, potential endogeneity and common shocks across countries. The results indicate a positive and robust association between lobbying expenditure and economic growth. With regard to inequality, no robust relationship is identified with the Gini coefficient of disposable income, whereas the Gini coefficient of market income displays a negative and statistically significant association. The number of persons involved in lobbying activities does not produce consistent results, suggesting that the relationship between lobbying and economic performance varies according to the dimension analysed and should be interpreted with caution. The study thus contributes to the still limited macroeconomic understanding of lobbying activity in the European Union. |
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