Why is Elon Musk starting the America Party? What social science tells us about why billionaires run for office

Kalyanpur, Nikhil ORCID: 0000-0001-6200-1509 (2025) Why is Elon Musk starting the America Party? What social science tells us about why billionaires run for office. USApp – American Politics and Policy Blog (07 Jul 2025). Blog Entry.

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Abstract

Following a well-publicized split with President Trump, tech billionaire Elon Musk has announced that he is launching a new political party. Nikhil Kalyanpur writes that there is nothing new about businesspeople going into politics: elected office can increase their businesses’ value and profits. What is new is that billionaires like Musk are now more likely to enter politics in autocratic settings, which America is increasingly resembling.

Item Type:	Online resource (Blog Entry)
Official URL:	https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Author(s)
Divisions:	International Relations
Subjects:	J Political Science > JK Political institutions (United States) H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Date Deposited:	21 Aug 2025 10:56
Last Modified:	21 Aug 2025 10:57
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/129227

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