Publications
Publications
- 2022
- HBS Working Paper Series
The Political Polarization of Corporate America
By: Vyacheslav Fos, Elisabeth Kempf and Margarita Tsoutsoura
Abstract
Executive teams in U.S. firms are becoming increasingly partisan. We establish this new fact using political affiliations from voter registration records for top executives of S&P 1500 firms between 2008 and 2020. The new fact is explained by both an increasing share of Republican executives and increased assortative matching by executives on political affiliation. Departures of politically misaligned executives are value-destroying for shareholders, implying the increasing political polarization of corporate America may not be in the financial interest of shareholders.
Keywords
Political Polarization; Partisanship; Executives; Government and Politics; Business and Shareholder Relations; United States
Citation
Fos, Vyacheslav, Elisabeth Kempf, and Margarita Tsoutsoura. "The Political Polarization of Corporate America." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 23-003, July 2022.