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Campaign Contributions over CEOs' Careers

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  • Adam Fremeth
  • Brian Kelleher Richter
  • Brandon Schaufele

Abstract

Individuals dominate money in politics, accounting for over 90 percent of campaign contributions, yet studies of drivers of individuals? giving are scarce. We analyze data on all contributions made between 1991 and 2008 by all 1,556 people who became S&P 500 CEOs during that interval. We exploit variation in leadership status over these individuals? careers to identify that being an S&P 500 CEO causes a $4,029 or 137 percent jump per election cycle in personal giving. While some fraction of CEOs? contributions can be attributed to long-standing preferences, the striking changes in behavior cannot be explained by these factors alone.

Suggested Citation

  • Adam Fremeth & Brian Kelleher Richter & Brandon Schaufele, 2013. "Campaign Contributions over CEOs' Careers," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(3), pages 170-188, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejapp:v:5:y:2013:i:3:p:170-88
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/app.5.3.170
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    Cited by:

    1. Marianne Bertrand & Matilde Bombardini & Raymond Fisman & Francesco Trebbi, 2020. "Tax-Exempt Lobbying: Corporate Philanthropy as a Tool for Political Influence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(7), pages 2065-2102, July.
    2. Adam Fremeth & Brian Kelleher Richter & Brandon Schaufele, 2018. "Spillovers from regulating corporate campaign contributions," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 54(3), pages 244-265, December.
    3. Niebler, Sarah & Urban, Carly, 2017. "Does negative advertising affect giving behavior? Evidence from campaign contributions," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 15-26.
    4. Bunkanwanicha, Pramuan & Di Giuli, Alberta & Salvade, Federica, 2022. "Bank CEO careers after bailouts: The effects of management turnover on bank risk," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    5. Özgür, Arslan-Ayaydin & Thewissen, James & Torsin, Wouter, 2021. "Earnings Management Methods and CEO Political Affiliation," LIDAM Discussion Papers LFIN 2021017, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain Finance (LFIN).
    6. Scott Callahan, 2018. "Do Campaign Contributions from Farmers Influence Agricultural Policy? Evidence From a 2008 Farm Bill Amendment Vote to Curtail Cotton Subsidies," Working Papers 18-08, Department of Economics, Appalachian State University.
    7. Alma Cohen & Moshe Hazan & David Weiss, 2021. "Politics and Gender in the Executive Suite," NBER Working Papers 28893, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Timothy Werner, 2015. "Gaining Access by Doing Good: The Effect of Sociopolitical Reputation on Firm Participation in Public Policy Making," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(8), pages 1989-2011, August.
    9. Ulrich Matter & Paolo Roberti & Michaela Slotwinski, 2019. "Vote Buying in the US Congress," CESifo Working Paper Series 7841, CESifo.
    10. Christian Cox, 2020. "Campaign Contributions by Non‐profit Executives and Government Grants," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 82(4), pages 916-933, August.
    11. Callahan, Scott, 2018. "Farmer Campaign Finance: Determinants of Contributions to Political Action Committees," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 273868, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. Adam Fremeth & Brian Kelleher Richter & Brandon Schaufele, 2013. "Campaign Contributions over CEOs' Careers," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(3), pages 170-188, July.
    13. Scott Callahan, 2018. "Farmer Campaign Finance: Determinants of Contibutions to Political Action Committees," Working Papers 18-12, Department of Economics, Appalachian State University.
    14. James Rockey & Nadia Zakir, 2021. "Power and the money, money and the power: A network analysis of donations from American corporate to political leaders," Discussion Papers 21-03, Department of Economics, University of Birmingham.
    15. Adam R. Fremeth & Guy L. F. Holburn & Richard G. Vanden Bergh, 2016. "Corporate Political Strategy in Contested Regulatory Environments," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 1(4), pages 272-284, December.
    16. Ilona Babenko & Viktar Fedaseyeu & Song Zhang, 2017. "Do CEOs affect employees' political choices?," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 1750, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    17. Artés, Joaquín & Richter, Brian Kelleher & Timmons, Jeffrey F., 2019. "The Value of Political Geography: Evidence from the Redistricting of Firms," Working Papers 291, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance

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    1. Campaign Contributions over CEOs' Careers (American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 2013) in ReplicationWiki

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