Can a "moneyball" system work for campaign funding?

“金钱球”体系能否适用于竞选资金?

The Indicator from Planet Money

2026-10-22

8 分钟
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Elections are more expensive than ever, but are campaign donations going to the races where they’ll make the most impact? Today, we talk to the startup co-founder of Oath who believes there’s a smarter way to allocate individual donations. Fact checking by Sierra Juarez. Your Next Listen –How did political campaigns get so expensive?–Over 2,000 episodes in our archive on the NPR App Connect with The Indicator from Planet Money–The Indicator newsletter — a weekly roundup of news, ideas and staff picks. –Instagram, TikTok and YouTube –Find the Planet Money book –Find the Planet Money game, Sell Me A Sasquatch, and other merch at the NPR Shop! Support public media by subscribing to NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy
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  • N-P-R.

  • Adrian, the World Series starts tomorrow.

  • Baseball.

  • Baseball.

  • I marked the occasion by re-watching Moneyball, the movie based on the Michael Lewis book about economics

  • and data analytics in Major League Baseball.

  • Okay, people who run ball clubs, they think in terms of buying players.

  • Your goal shouldn't be to buy players.

  • Your goal should be to buy wins.

  • Of course, I remember this movie, Econ Nerd's favorite sports movie.

  • It dramatizes how the Oakland A's started buying wins more efficiently by spending their money on undervalued players

  • where they could get more bang for their buck.

  • Right.

  • And it turns out that now a political fundraising startup is taking a leaf out of that book.

  • Or a still from that movie.

  • It's recommending that voters this midterm stop sending their donations

  • to big names like Democrat James Tallarico versus Republican Ken Paxton in Texas.

  • Instead, this startup is focusing on lesser-known races,

  • where it argues individual donors' money could make more of a difference.

  • Have you heard of Amelia Cortez in Arizona?