Paper #1183

Títol:

Betting on Hitler: The value of political connections in Nazi Germany

Autors:

Joachim Voth i Thomas Ferguson

Data:

Febrer 2008

Resum:

This paper examines the value of connections between German industry and the Nazi movement in early 1933. Drawing on previously unused contemporary sources about management and supervisory board composition and stock returns, we find that one out of seven firms, and a large proportion of the biggest companies, had substantive links with the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. Firms supporting the Nazi movement experienced unusually high returns, outperforming unconnected ones by 5% to 8% between January and March 1933. These results are not driven by sectoral composition and are robust to alternative estimators and definitions of affiliation.

Paraules clau:

Political Connections, Stock Market, Asset Pricing, Nazi Rise to Power, Interwar Germany

Codis JEL:

G12, G13, G15, N24

Àrea de Recerca:

Història Econòmica i de l'Empresa

Publicat a:

Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 2008, 123 (1), pp. 101-137

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