The Political Polarization of Corporate America

An earlier version of this paper circulated under the title “The Political Polarization of U.S. Firms.” We have benefited from comments by Pat Akey An earlier version of this paper circulated under the title “The Political Polarization of U.S. Firms.” We have benefited from comments by Pat Akey (discussant), Marianne Bertrand, Matt Gentzkow (discussant), Emir Kamenica, Anil Kashyap, Meziane Lasfer (discussant), Tim Loughran, Neil Malhotra (discussant), John Matsusaka (discussant), Elena Pikulina (discussant), Vincent Pons, Orkun Saka (discussant), Paola Sapienza (discussant), Antoinette Schoar, Andrei Shleifer, Amir Sufi, Luigi Zingales, and participants at AFA, Boston College, Central European University, CEPR/Study Center Gerzensee European Summer Symposium in Financial Markets, Challenges in American Institutions Conference (Hoover), Columbia University, Deakin University, EFA, Harvard Business School, Harvard Law, Harvard Political Economy Workshop, Indiana University, London Political Finance Workshop, Miami Behavioral Finance Conference, MIT, NBER Corporate Finance Spring Meeting, NYU Law, Penn State, Princeton University, Stanford GSB, University of Chicago (Booth and Harris), University of Arizona, University of Geneva, University of Michigan, University of Nebraska, University of Oregon, University of Sussex, University of Zurich, USC Social and Behavioral Finance Conference, UT Austin, Wharton, Washington University in St. Louis, and the Women in Law and Finance Workshop. We also thank Sreeta Basu, Yifang Hong, Daniel Huang, Qiaoqiao Xiang, and Yuan Yuan for excellent research assistance. Kempf gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Initiative on Global Markets, the Fama-Miller Center for Research in Finance, and the Becker Friedman Institute at the University of Chicago. The authors do not have any conflicts of interest to disclose. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

• June 30, 2022
• May 25, 2023
• March 24, 2025