Advocates for hire: How government contracting shapes politics
研究美国非营利组织通过政府合同增强政治参与和影响政策的能力，以“为美国而教”为例，发现合同不仅增强组织能力，还动员其成员推动教育改革政策，如特许学校法。
Abstract Many public services in the United States are administered through non‐state actors, many of which are nonprofits with broad social missions. Some scholars show that contracting these organizations can compromise their broader goals and political activities, while others find that such arrangements empower the organizations to engage in advocacy and influence policy. We argue that not only can contracting strengthen nonprofits' capacities to engage in politics and advance their missions, but it can mobilize political activity among those working for and engaging with the nonprofits. We use the case of Teach For America (TFA) and an instrumental variable approach that leverages plausibly exogenous variation in the timing of TFA's arrival in states to show that contracting TFA is related with the arrival of new education reform advocacy groups spearheaded by TFA alumni. This, in addition to TFA's direct efforts, leads to the passage of reform policies—especially charter school laws.