ABSTRACT

Taking house-building as an example, Pierre Bourdieu suggests that only the largest operators have the resources to adopt strategies that are at once quantitative, politico-administrative and/or symbolic. Lobbying appears as an aspect of political representation that reveals underlying economic structures by making visible the dependency of business activity on the resources dispensed by administrations. Paying to have political representation in Brussels is more than simply an economic cost or expenditure. Given the returns on investment in the form of subsidies and public contracts obtained by these companies from the Commission, "lobbying" and "public relations" expenditure should almost certainly be shown as investments in company accounts. Major investment in representation in Brussels is also very likely in markets where the products sold are particularly closely monitored on health or environmental grounds. In this light lobbying is an investment seeking to transform the structure of the economic field.