OVERDRAFT - THE POLITICAL COST OF CONGRESSIONAL MALFEASANCE

This research focuses on the aggregate effects of the House Banking Sc andal on the 1992 elections for the U.S. House of Representatives. Whi le many commentators felt the scandal would transform the House of Rep resentatives through massive displacement of members, we argue that th e literature on scandals in Congress should have made us more cautious in our prognostications. We focus on three different stages of reelec tion for incumbents and conclude that the House Banking Scandal had on ly a nominal effect on those who wrote bad checks.