so by focusing on the use of lobbying for protection by import competing firms as a means to postpone costly product …, it will be optimal to adjust quality and to decrease the lobbying effort at some time, leading to liberalization and … technological catch-up. But then the equilibrium tariff will again be small and "cheap", and it will pay to start lobbying anew …

This study investigates how firms’ lobbying activities change over business cycles. We show that firms lobby more … during recessions. Aside from active lobbying firms, non-lobbying firms are also more likely to start lobbying during … recessions. Corporate lobbying generally responds only to aggregate economic fluctuations. Lastly, we discuss the benefits of …