Empirics

    Papers & Opinions

    Corporate finance | Empirics | Political institutions

    Going Extreme: The Impact of Political Polarization on Corporate Investment

    Paper

    Posted on 11 May 2023

    By Tiecheng Leng

    Using data on roll-call voting patterns of U.S. state legislators from 1993 to 2016, we find a negative relationship between firm investment and state legislative polarization, measured as the ideological...
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    Banking | Central banking | Empirics

    Connected Lending of Last Resort

    Paper

    Posted on 9 February 2023

    By Kris Mitchener

    Because of secrecy, little is known about the political economy of central bank lending. Utilizing a novel, hand-collected historical daily dataset on loans to commercial banks, we analyze how personal...
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    Central banking | Empirics | Political institutions

    (In)dependent Central Banks

    Paper

    Posted on 25 January 2023

    By Alex Michaelides

    Since the 1980s many countries have reformed the institutional framework governing their central banks to increase operational independence. Collecting systematic biographical information, international press coverage, and independent expert opinions, we...
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    Empirics | Financial markets | Media

    The Stock Market’s Response to the Political Affiliation of News Sources

    Paper

    Posted on 7 November 2022

    By Alberto Manconi

    We use the acquisition of Dow Jones & Co. by News Corporation in 2007 to study whether investors respond to a news source’s political affiliation. Following the acquisition, the price...
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    Corporate finance | Empirics | Political institutions

    Ruling with Ideology: Politicians’ Beliefs and Privatization

    Paper

    Posted on 3 October 2022

    By Linxiang Ma

    Ideology, the belief system about "how the society should be governed" that some group of people collectively sustains, is a critical factor that motivates economic decisions in democratic countries. However,...
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    Corporate finance | Empirics | Political institutions

    Democracy as a Fundamental Determinant of Cross-Border Merger Activity

    Paper

    Posted on 5 September 2022

    By Thomas Lambert

    Does democracy shape international merger activity? If so, how? The short answer is yes because democratic institutions are conducive to higher-quality corporate governance. In a new paper, we examine 104,425...
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    Corporate finance | Electoral politics | Empirics

    Smokestacks and the Swamp

    Paper

    Posted on 25 August 2022

    By Stefan Lewellen

    We examine the causal effect of politicians' partisan ideologies on firms' industrial pollution decisions. Using a regression discontinuity design involving close U.S. congressional elections, we show that plants increase pollution...
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    Empirics | Financial markets | Media

    Corporate Response to the Black Lives Matter Movement

    Paper

    Posted on 30 June 2022

    By AJ Chen

    We investigate determinants that encourage companies to speak out via twitter or their websites in support of Black Lives Matter (BLM) after the death of George Floyd on May 25,...
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    Central banking | Empirics | Political institutions

    Central Banks and Civil War Termination

    Paper

    Posted on 30 April 2022

    By Ana Carolina Garriga

    The ability to finance conflict likely affects the odds of sustaining a war and succeeding in it. Recent literature explores rebel group funding, but far less is known about how...
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    Corporate finance | Empirics | Regulation

    Exposing the Revolving Door in Executive Branch Agencies

    Paper

    Posted on 6 April 2022

    By Logan Emery

    We develop the first comprehensive mapping of the revolving door phenomenon in the U.S. by examining the work experience in executive branch agencies of 1,910,150 individuals covering top corporate positions...
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    Empirics | Political institutions | Special interest politics

    Foreign Influence in US Politics

    Paper

    Posted on 4 April 2022

    By Max Miller

    We provide the first large-sample evidence of foreign influence in US politics, showing that meetings between foreign countries and legislators affect government resource allocation directly for countries and indirectly for...
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    Banking | Empirics | Special interest politics

    Winning Connections? Special Interests and the Sale of Failed Banks

    Paper

    Posted on 16 March 2022

    By Deniz Igan

    We study how banks’ special interests affect the resolution of failed banks. Using a sample of FDIC auctions between 2007 and 2016, we find that bidding banks that lobby regulators...
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    Electoral politics | Empirics | Financial markets

    Investor Rewards to Climate Responsibility: Stock-Price Responses to the Opposite Shocks of the 2016 and 2020 US Elections

    Paper

    Posted on 28 January 2022

    By Stefano Ramelli

    Donald Trump's 2016 election and his nomination of climate skeptic Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency drastically downshifted expectations about U.S. policy toward climate change. Joseph Biden's 2020...
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    Banking | Empirics | Political institutions

    Bailouts and Political Connections of Bank Boards

    Paper

    Posted on 17 January 2022

    By Pia Huettl

    This paper investigates the political ties of too-big-to-fail bank boards in crisis times. We argue that after a bailout, governments are likely to influence bank board compositions to secure control...
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    Banking | Empirics | Special interest politics

    The Politics of the Paycheck Protection Program

    Paper

    Posted on 8 December 2021

    By Thomas Lambert

    This paper examines the incidence of special interests in the allocation of loans through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). We find that lobbying at the firm and industry levels helps...
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