The effects of campaign spending on electoral outcomes: A data envelopmentanalysis

Data envelopment analysis is used to analyze the efficiency of candidate ca mpaign spending. Analysis of the measured efficiency scores of the incumben ts and challengers shows that there are significant systematic effects of b oth district and candidate characteristics. The incumbent's residuals from the efficiency score regressions indicate those candidates who do well beca use of the nature of their district and those who do well because of their own abilities. Incumbents are ranked according to their observed efficiency , their unobserved efficiency and their vote share. Correlations among the rankings are significant and of the expected signs. More efficient candidat es receive higher vote shares.