Electoral politics

    Papers & Opinions

    Financial markets | Regulation | Theory

    Why Divest? The Political and Informational Roles of Institutions in Asset Stranding

    Paper

    Posted on 3 August 2025

    By ALI LAZRAK

    We model stakeholder-driven institutional divestiture that promotes harmful-asset stranding through both an economic exposure channel and financial prices. We introduce two novel mechanisms. First, institutional divestiture weakens stakeholders' asset exposures,...
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    Corporate finance | Electoral politics | Theory

    Credit Rationing, Electoral Politics, and Incentives

    Paper

    Posted on 22 July 2025

    By Stylianos Papageorgiou

    This paper develops a unified framework linking credit rationing, electoral politics, and credit terms. Vote-share-maximizing politicians moderate policy in response to credit market frictions, generating an endogenous asymmetry that limits...
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    Electoral politics | Political institutions | Theory

    Leaping into the Dark: A Model of Policy Gambles with Self-Fulfilling Features

    Paper

    Posted on 22 November 2021

    By Kartik Anand

    We examine why rational voters support risky “policy gambles”, even when detrimental to welfare, over maintaining a safe status quo. We present a model of electoral competition with two groups...
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    Special interest politics

    Self-funding of Political Campaigns

    Paper

    Posted on 13 September 2021

    By Philip Valta

    Candidate self-funding, in particular self-loans, is a significant source of funding of political campaigns.  Self-funding clusters among newcomers, Senate campaigns and Republican campaigns.  Self-funded campaigns raise less money from individuals...
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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 | Theory

    The Political Economy of Prudential Regulation

    Paper

    Posted on 21 May 2021

    By Magdalena Rola-Janicka

    This paper introduces a voting model into a setting with negative borrowing externalities to study voter preferences for prudential regulation. Voters internalize the general equilibrium impact of prudential policy on...
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