Ask the data
Pick any two measures and see how they move together across Congress. Each chart reports the correlation and how many members it covers. A correlation is a pattern, not a cause.
Across 539 members, there is no meaningful relationship between years in office and trades disclosed (Spearman ρ = −0.03, Pearson r = −0.06 on the log scale shown).
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House Senate. The line is a least-squares fit. Hover or tap a dot for the member.
The preset questions, answered
| Question | Members | Spearman ρ | Pearson r | In plain words |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Do longer-serving members trade more? | 539 | −0.03 | −0.06 | no meaningful relationship |
| Do members who take more PAC money score higher? | 536 | 0.17 | 0.11 | a weak relationship |
| Does ideology predict the score? | 537 | 0.07 | 0.08 | no meaningful relationship |
| Do bigger traders file late more often? | 184 | 0.17 | −0.08 | a weak relationship |
Spearman's ρ compares ranks, so a few very large values can't drive it; Pearson's r is computed on the plotted scale (logarithmic for trade counts, trade value and net worth). Scores include provisional ones. PAC share uses each member's latest election cycle with receipts. Members without a value for either measure are left out, and n says how many remain.
Source: Greederboard scores; House Clerk and Senate eFD disclosures; FEC candidate totals; Voteview DW-NOMINATE and roll-call attendance; congress-legislators service records. Download the data (members.csv) · Download the data (campaign_finance.csv)