This paper examines the consequences of powerful political connections for local governments. We find that governments located within the constituencies of, and thus connected to, powerful congressional members reduce their stewardship over public resources. Using plausibly-exogenous declines in...

This paper investigates whether political connections affect individuals' propensity to engage in illegal activities in financial markets. We use the 2007 French presidential election as marker of change in the value of political connections, in a difference-in-differences research design. We...

This paper examines the consequences of powerful political connections for local governments. We find that governments located within the constituencies of, and thus connected to, powerful congressional members reduce their stewardship over public resources. Using plausibly-exogenous declines in...

This paper examines the consequences of powerful political connections for local governments. We find that governments located within the constituencies of, and thus connected to, powerful congressional members reduce their stewardship over public resources. Using plausibly exogenous declines in...

In politically connected firms (PCs), employment-related offenses and workplace safety standards violations run more rampant than non-PCs. Perceived ability to avoid large-scale penalties, leveraging political connections, enables PCs to perpetuate such egregious employee treatment. Plausibly...

We use novel hand-collected data on political connections to find politically connected firms earn more positive (less negative) Cumulative Abnormal Returns (CARs) than those without political connections as a response to favorable (unfavorable) macroeconomic news. Using the...