Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/33618 
Year of Publication: 
2006
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 1996
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Political economists interested in discerning the effects of election outcomes on the economy have been hampered by the problem that economic outcomes also influence elections. We sidestep these problems by analyzing movements in economic indicators caused by clearly exogenous changes in expectations about the likely winner during election day. Analyzing high frequency financial fluctuations on November 2 and 3 in 2004, we find that markets anticipated higher equity prices, interest rates and oil prices and a stronger dollar under a Bush presidency than under Kerry. A similar Republican-Democrat differential was also observed for the 2000 Bush-Gore contest. Prediction market based analyses of all Presidential elections since 1880 also reveal a similar pattern of partisan impacts, suggesting that electing a Republican President raises equity valuations by 2-3 percent, and that since Reagan, Republican Presidents have tended to raise bond yields.
Subjects: 
elections
prediction markets
political economy
event study
partisan effects
JEL: 
D72
E3
E6
G13
G14
H6
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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