This paper documents a previously unrecognized debt-related investment distortion. Using detailed project-level data for 69 firms in the oil and gas industry, we find that highly levered firms pull forward investment, completing projects early at the expense of long-run project returns and...

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....

I use oil and natural gas shale discoveries as a natural experiment to identify whether local access to finance matters for economic outcomes. Shale discoveries lead to large unexpected personal wealth windfalls, which result in an exogenous increase in local bank deposits and a positive local...