We show that existing stocks that are currently traded in the U.S. stock market can be used to hedge political uncertainty. Focusing on the 2000 U.S. Presidential election, we construct two "presidential portfolios" composed of selected stocks anticipated to fare differently under a Bush versus a Gore presidency. To construct these portfolios we use data on campaign contributions by publicly traded corporations and identify the major contributors on each side. Using daily observations for the six months before the election took place, we show that the excess returns of these portfolios with respect to overall market movements are significantly related to changes in electoral polls.
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Paper provided by California Institute of Technology, Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences in its series Working Papers with number
1207.
Length: 17 pages Date of creation: Oct 2004 Date of revision: Publication status: Published: Handle: RePEc:clt:sswopa:1207
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References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
David K. Musto & Bilge Yilmaz, 2003.
"Trading and Voting,"
Journal of Political Economy,
University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(5), pages 990-1003, October.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Luigi Guiso & Tullio Jappelli, 2000.
"Household Portfolios in Italy,"
CSEF Working Papers
43, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
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