Political Connectedness and Firm Performance: Evidence from Germany
Abstract
This paper investigates politically connected firms in Germany. With the introduction of a new transparency law in 2007, information on additional income sources for all members of the German parliament became publicly available. We find that members of the conservative party (CDU/CSU) and the liberal party (FDP) are more likely to work for firms than members of left-wing parties (SPD and The Left) or the green party (Alliance 90/The Greens). Politically connected firms are larger, less risky and have lower market valuations than unconnected firms. They also have fewer growth opportunities, but slightly better accounting performance. On the stock market, connected firms significantly outperformed unconnected firms in 2006, i.e. before the publication of the data on political connections. Differences in stock market performance were much smaller in 2007. Copyright 2010 The Authors. German Economic Review 2010 Verein für Socialpolitik.Download Info
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Bibliographic Info
Article provided by Verein für Socialpolitik in its journal German Economic Review.
Volume (Year): 11 (2010)
Issue (Month): (November)
Pages: 441-464
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Related research
Keywords:Other versions of this item:
- Niessen, Alexandra & Ruenzi, Stefan, 2009. "Political connectedness and firm performance: Evidence from Germany," CFR Working Papers 07-15, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
- G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies
- G18 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Government Policy and Regulation
- G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
- G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation
- H89 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - Other
- K29 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Other
- L - Industrial Organization
References
References listed on IDEASPlease report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
- Joachim Voth & Thomas Ferguson, 2008.
"Betting on Hitler: The value of political connections in Nazi Germany,"
Economics Working Papers
1183, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
- Thomas Ferguson & Hans-Joachim Voth, 2008. "Betting on Hitler-The Value of Political Connections in Nazi Germany," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 123(1), pages 101-137, 02.
- Ferguson, Thomas & Voth, Hans-Joachim, 2005. "Betting on Hitler - The Value of Political Connections in Nazi Germany," CEPR Discussion Papers 5021, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
- Mara Faccio, 2006. "Politically Connected Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(1), pages 369-386, March.
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- Faccio, Mara & Parsley, David, 2006. "Sudden Deaths: Taking Stock of Political Connections," CEPR Discussion Papers 5460, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
- William F. Sharpe, 1965. "Mutual Fund Performance," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39, pages 119.
Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Geys, Benny & Mause, Karsten, 2011. "Moonlighting politicians: A survey and research agenda," Discussion Papers, Research Professorship & Project "The Future of Fiscal Federalism" SP II 2011-101, Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB).
- Thomas Braendle & Alois Stutzer, 2010. "Public servants in parliament: theory and evidence on its determinants in Germany," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 145(1), pages 223-252, October.
- Scharfenkamp, Katrin, 2013. "Composition effects of the German Federal Government on the average top income tax burden," Discussion Papers of the Institute for Organisational Economics 2/2013, University of Münster, Institute for Organisational Economics.
- Anna Menozzi & María Gutierrez Urtiaga & Davide Vannoni, 2010.
"Board Composition, Political Connections and Performance in State-Owned Enterprises,"
Carlo Alberto Notebooks
185, Collegio Carlo Alberto.
- Anna Menozzi & María Gutiérrez Urtiaga & Davide Vannoni, 2012. "Board composition, political connections, and performance in state-owned enterprises," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press, vol. 21(3), pages 671-698, June.
- Anna Menozzi & María Gutiérrez Urtiaga & Davide Vannoni, 2010. "Board Composition, Political Connections and Performance in State-Owned Enterprises," Working papers 9, Former Department of Economics and Public Finance "G. Prato", University of Torino.
- Karsten Mause, 2009. "Nebentätige Bundestagsabgeordnete: Was offenbaren die Veröffentlichungspflichten?," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 10(2), pages 146-174, 05.
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