Papers & Opinions

Empirics | Regulation | Special interest politics

Regulatory Capture in Public Procurement

Paper

Posted on 10 October 2024

By Kentaro Asai

This paper studies how hiring public officials affects firms’ ability to win government contracts in Japan. We link personnel transitions of public officials to contractors and government contracts awarded to...
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Empirics | Financial development | Political institutions

Financial Asset Holdings and Political Attitudes

Paper

Posted on 22 March 2024

By Saumitra Jha

The English Parliament’s struggle for supremacy against monarchical dictatorship during the Civil War (1642–1648) was crucial for the establishment of representative government, yet its lessons continue to be debated. I...
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Banking | Empirics | Regulation

The Implementation of Central Bank Policy in China

Paper

Posted on 27 November 2023

By Yushi Peng

We examine the roles of commercial bank ownership and CEO faction membership in facilitating or in hindering the implementation of central bank policy in China. Both ownership and membership matter:...
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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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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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Empirics | Financial markets | Political institutions

House of Funds

Paper

Posted on 15 November 2021

By Nataliya Gerasimova

I document that political connections are an important driver of investment strategies of U.S. mutual funds. I collect data on mutual fund holdings of U.S. Congress members and equity holdings...
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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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Banking | Electoral politics | Empirics

Banks, Political Capital, and Growth

Paper

Posted on 30 June 2021

By Thomas Lambert

In this paper, we study the consequences of banks’ political connectedness for economic activity. We focus on the subset of banks that donate to candidates in US congressional elections, and...
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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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