Now retired, Glenn R. Parker was Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Purdue University and is the author of many books, including Capitol Investment$: The Marketability of Political Skills. Suzanne L. Parker , also now retired, was Associate Professor of Political Science at Purdue University. Together they have coauthored Factions in House Committees.

"Parker and Parker utilize data collected under the Federal Advisory Committee Act to support their argument that implicit political contracts represent a cost-effective mechanism for groups and parties to structure group influence. This argument presents an elegant contribution to a question interest-group scholars have been tackling for decades: the relationship between interest group contributions and political influence. Historically, scholars in this area have looked to the relationship between campaign contributions and congressional votes with mixed results; this text offers a new direction." — CHOICE"This book is the single best study of federal advisory committees, with reams of data about them. It is also one of the best books on contractual politics, pulling together a wealth of ideas about the utility of that approach, by scholars who really understand it well." — Paul Teske, author of Regulation in the States

• List of Tables and FiguresPreface1. Introduction: A Contractual Perspective on Interest Group Politics2. The Political Utility of Advisory Committees3. The Institutional Underpinnings of Political Contracts4. A Theory of Political Contracts5. Defusing Contractual Hazards6. Interest Group Demand and the Spread of Advisory Committees7. Advisory Committees as Instruments of Bureaucratic Influence8. The Efficiency of Contracts in Governing Political Exchange9. ConclusionsAppendix to Chapter 4: A Formal Representation of Contractual PoliticsAppendix to Chapter 7: Predicting the Linkage between Agency Budgets and Implementation of Advisory CommitteeRecommendationsNotesReferencesIndex of NamesIndex of Subjects

Now retired, Glenn R. Parker was Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Purdue University and is the author of many books, including Capitol Investment$: The Marketability of Political Skills. Suzanne L. Parker , also now retired, was Associate Professor of Political Science at Purdue University. Together they have coauthored Factions in House Committees.

"Parker and Parker utilize data collected under the Federal Advisory Committee Act to support their argument that implicit political contracts represent a cost-effective mechanism for groups and parties to structure group influence. This argument presents an elegant contribution to a question interest-group scholars have been tackling for decades: the relationship between interest group contributions and political influence. Historically, scholars in this area have looked to the relationship between campaign contributions and congressional votes with mixed results; this text offers a new direction." — CHOICE"This book is the single best study of federal advisory committees, with reams of data about them. It is also one of the best books on contractual politics, pulling together a wealth of ideas about the utility of that approach, by scholars who really understand it well." — Paul Teske, author of Regulation in the States

• List of Tables and FiguresPreface1. Introduction: A Contractual Perspective on Interest Group Politics2. The Political Utility of Advisory Committees3. The Institutional Underpinnings of Political Contracts4. A Theory of Political Contracts5. Defusing Contractual Hazards6. Interest Group Demand and the Spread of Advisory Committees7. Advisory Committees as Instruments of Bureaucratic Influence8. The Efficiency of Contracts in Governing Political Exchange9. ConclusionsAppendix to Chapter 4: A Formal Representation of Contractual PoliticsAppendix to Chapter 7: Predicting the Linkage between Agency Budgets and Implementation of Advisory CommitteeRecommendationsNotesReferencesIndex of NamesIndex of Subjects