I show that U.S. corporate elites use contributions to political campaigns as a
tool of political influence by leveraging a new panel on the contributions to members of U.S.
Congress (MCs) from 401,557 corporate leaders of 14,807 U.S. corporations over 1999-2018.
Donations increase by 11% when a politician is assigned to a committee dealing with policy
issues relevant to a corporate leader’s company. The effect is driven by donations to MCs
with the greatest power in the committees. I estimate that, absent an influence motive,
donations from corporate leaders during this period would have been lower by $20 million.