Mikhail Balaev University of North Carolina Greensboro
Social scientists have studied the composition of and ties between the executives in government and corporations since the 1960s. This project will analyze the changes in the corporate-government networks and their dynamics from 1978 to the present by focusing on the professional affiliations (such as employment and board memberships) of the senior executive government officials. Using previously unanalyzed documents, such as the Financial Disclosures and Ethics Agreement letters that all senior officials must file according to the 1978 Ethics in Government Act, a unique longitudinal network data set will be constructed. Each tie to an organization will be coded to reflect the organization?s main industries and ownership types. Education, gender, and wealth of the senior government officials will also be coded in the dataset. The project will use analytical techniques that include mean comparisons, time-series analysis, network analysis, and longitudinal dynamic network analysis. The novelty of these data will result in the first longitudinal network analysis of the government-corporate power networks. This study will offer an unprecedented insight into the dynamics of the historical development of U.S. corporate-government ties.
Broader impacts
The proposed project will code previously unanalyzed documents and produce a unique longitudinal network dataset for current and future research across a number of social science disciplines. The infrastructure of the dataset will allow for easy yearly updates and a seamless addition of further variables which will broaden the applicability of these data for a wide range of research projects that deal with the formation and the functioning of the government and the development of public policy. The study will provide training for graduate and undergraduate students in such and such methodology and theory. The publications based on this study will be of importance to academics, students, politicians, the media, and the general public. The empirical analysis of the patterns in the historical development of the corporate-government networks will contribute to public debate and government transparency and accountability to the society at large.
