Professor Jonathan Klick’s paper is an empirical inquiry into the impact of congressional service on the personal wealth of those elected. Professor Klick tackles the question “Does working in Congress help one become rich?” Among other factors, he examines insider trading among members, financial behavior upon leaving office, the correlation of committee assignments and wealth accumulation. While acknowledging the difficulty of making causal inferences due to incomplete disclosure data, Professor Klick interprets his results as evidence that House members are indeed getting richer.
