Hydraulic fracking generated unexpected shale oil and gas booms. After these booms, voter support for Republicans rises, leading Republicans to win seats from Democrats. Roll-call voting by House members becomes more conservative after shale across issues extending beyond energy or the economy....

We quantify the effect of a significant technological innovation, shale oil development, on asset prices. Using stock returns on major news announcement days allows us to link aggregate stock price fluctuations to shale technology innovations. We exploit cross-sectional variation in industry...

We quantify the effect of a significant technological innovation, shale oil development, on asset prices. Using stock returns on major news announcement days allows us to link aggregate stock price fluctuations to shale technology innovations. We exploit cross-sectional variation in industry...