Dr Quoc-Anh Do (Singapore Management University) presenting.
Title: Politicians and Directors in Social Networks: RDD Evidence from Close Elections
Abstract: This paper investigates whether firms benefit from political connections from social networks. We focus on the networks of classmates and alumni among US-market quoted firms' directors and US Senators and Congressmen. Using the regression discontinuity design in close elections, we identify that a connection to elected politicians causes a robust Weighted Average Treatment Effect on Cumulative Abnormal Returns of negative 2%, counting from the election day to a week after. Preliminary analysis reveals a possible explanation of unprofitable expansions of connected firms after elections. This is to our knowledge the first study of this question with strong identification and generalizability of the effect. The effect is strong among politicians with little prior political experience, and is robust to multiple sensitivity checks. The paper is co-authored by Yen-Teik Lee (SMU) and Bang Dang Nguyen (Cambridge JBS).
Bio: Quoc-Anh Do is an assistant professor of economics at the School of Economics, Singapore Management University (SMU). He has won a Bronze Medal and a Gold Medal at the International Mathematical Olympiads in 1996 and 1997, respectively. He graduated from the Ecole Politechnique in Paris in 2002 with a BA and MS in engineering. He obtained a PhD in Economics from Harvard University's Department of Economics in 2008. His interests include development economics, political economy, economic growth, field experiments, economics of networks and financial economics. Quoc-Anh's research has been published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Journal of the European Economics Association, and Economics and Politics.