Papers & Opinions

Corporate finance | Empirics

Political Attitudes, Partisanship, and Merger Activity

Paper

Posted on 2 September 2021

By Ran Duchin

We demonstrate that similarity in employees’ political attitudes plays an important role in mergers and acquisitions. Using detailed data on employees’ campaign contributions to Democrats and Republicans, we find that...
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Central banking | Political institutions

Political Voice on Monetary Policy: Evidence from the Parliamentary Hearings of the European Central Bank

Paper

Posted on 30 August 2021

By Davide Romelli

Previous scholarship on central bank accountability has generally focused on monetary authorities' deeds and words while largely ignoring the other side of the accountability relationship, namely politicians' voice on monetary...
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Corporate finance | Regulation | Special interest politics

Who Pays a Visit to Brussels? The Firm Value of Cross-Border Political Access to European Commissioners

Paper

Posted on 23 August 2021

By Jörg Stahl

We present novel evidence on the value of cross-border political access. We analyze data on meetings of US multinational enterprises (MNEs) with European Commission (EC) policymakers. Meetings with Commissioners are...
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Empirics | Political institutions | Special interest politics

Why We Don’t Write More Papers on Political Finance

Opinion

Posted on 17 August 2021

By Orkun Saka

Despite the commonly held views of economists on regulatory capture, our profession has been much more hesitant in recognising similar conflicts of interests that may exist in economics research. This...
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Banking | Central banking | Theory

Monetary Policy with Reserves and CBDC: Optimality, Equivalence, and Politics

Paper

Posted on 11 August 2021

By Dirk Niepelt

We analyze the introduction of retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) into a two-tiered monetary system. Deposits, reserves, and CBDC differ in terms of operating costs and liquidity. We identify the optimal...
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Electoral politics | Media | Regulation

Finance and Politics: New Insights

Opinion

Posted on 4 August 2021

By Orkun Saka

A rapidly expanding literature has shown the importance of political economy factors for legislative and regulatory actions in the financial sector and ultimately financial sector stability and efficiency. This column...
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Corporate finance | Political institutions

Changes in the Electorate and Firm Values: Evidence from the Introduction of Female Suffrage in Switzerland

Paper

Posted on 2 August 2021

By Jörg Stahl

This paper analyzes the effect of the composition of the electorate on corporate prospects. Electorates constantly change, and support-maximizing policymakers adjust their legislative behavior to accommodate shifts in voter preferences....
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Banking | Electoral politics | Empirics

Lending Cycles and Real Outcomes: Costs of Political Misalignment

Paper

Posted on 30 July 2021

By Orkun Saka

We document a strong political cycle in bank credit and industry outcomes in Turkey. In line with theories of tactical redistribution, state-owned banks systematically adjust their lending around local elections...
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Empirics | Financial markets

Partisan Return Gap

Paper

Posted on 19 July 2021

By Jinfei Sheng

We document sharp differences in stock price responses to COVID-19-related news between public firms headquartered in blue counties (dominated by Democratic voters) and those in red counties (dominated by Republican...
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Empirics | Financial markets | Theory

Political Cycles and Stock Returns

Paper

Posted on 18 July 2021

By Lubos Pastor

We develop a model of political cycles driven by time-varying risk aversion. Agents choose to work in the public or private sector and to vote Democrat or Republican. In equilibrium,...
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Corporate finance | Empirics

Polarized Corporate Boards

Paper

Posted on 16 July 2021

By Phong Ngo

We show that political polarization between directors and the CEO negatively impacts the effectiveness of corporate boards. At the director level, polarization increases directors’ incentive to monitor the CEO but...
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Electoral politics | Empirics | Political institutions

The Political Scar of Epidemics

Paper

Posted on 15 July 2021

By Orkun Saka

What political legacy is bequeathed by national health crises such as epidemics? We show that epidemic exposure in an individual’s “impressionable years” (ages 18 to 25) has a persistent negative...
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Electoral politics | Financial markets | Theory

Inequality Aversion, Populism, and the Backlash Against Globalization

Paper

Posted on 12 July 2021

By Lubos Pastor

Motivated by the recent rise of populism in western democracies, we develop a tractable equilibrium model in which a populist backlash emerges endogenously in a strong economy. In the model,...
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Financial markets | Political institutions | Regulation

Delegation and the Regulation of U.S. Financial Markets

Paper

Posted on 7 July 2021

By Thomas Groll

We analyze the institutional determinants of U.S. financial market regulation with a general model of the policy-making process in which legislators delegate authority to regulate financial risk at both the...
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Banking | Financial development | Political institutions

De Facto Bank Bailouts

Paper

Posted on 7 July 2021

By Phong Ngo

The U.S. government uses its voting power to direct IMF loans to countries where U.S. banks are exposed to sovereign default—a de facto bailout. This effect is stronger in years...
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