Rick G. Vanden Bergh
University of Vermont

The talk will focus on what is referred to in the strategy literature as Public Politics. Public Politics researchers attempt to explain the strategies designed by private firms to influence public policy outcomes. Thus, Public Politics is concerned with the interactions between private firms and the government officials that have the authority to pass new legislation, promulgate regulatory rules or issue statutory interpretation (inter alia). Given the vast literature exploring these interactions, for the talk I will discuss the following:

1. Provide an overview of the extant literature and a simple structure for organizing research streams within Public Politics
2. Present a simple theoretical model that incorporates basic features of political institutions and the implications for firm strategy formulation
3. Introduce extant empirical tests based upon the simple theoretical model (or extensions) presented
4. Suggest areas for future research