The Political Polarization of Corporate America

Vyacheslav Fos, Elisabeth Kempf and Margarita Tsoutsoura

No 30183, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: U.S. executives are increasingly segregating by political party. Using voter registration records for top executives of S&P 1500 firms between 2008 and 2022, we document that while the executive pool shifted toward Democrats, partisan segregation across firms increased sharply. Intensifying segregation offsets 74% of the decline in team-level homogeneity implied by changing party composition. Turnover is the driving force: politically misaligned executives are more likely to depart, and executives who join top teams increasingly match the team’s partisan majority. The trend accelerates after the 2016 presidential election, marking an inflection point in the political polarization of corporate America.

JEL-codes: G3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-pol
Note: CF POL
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Related works:
Working Paper: The Political Polarization of Corporate America (2022)
Working Paper: The Political Polarization of Corporate America (2021)
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