Practice of Management Science—Optimal Resource Allocation in a Local Election Campaign

This paper examines the problem of allocation of a candidate's time and money resources over a number of media and over a primary and general election. Linear vote production functions were assumed, and the parameters estimated for the candidate's efforts in terms of his effort on both his and his opponent's votes. Linear programming is used to find the optimal allocation of the resources. The validity of the assumptions made is discussed and areas where extensions can be made are pointed out.