Authors
Frederico Belo, Vito D Gala, Jun Li
Publication date
2013/2/1
Journal
Journal of financial economics
Volume
107
Issue
2
Pages
305-324
Publisher
North-Holland
Description
Using a novel measure of industry exposure to government spending, we show predictable variation in cash flows and stock returns over political cycles. During Democratic presidencies, firms with high government exposure experience higher cash flows and stock returns, while the opposite pattern holds true during Republican presidencies. Business cycles, firm characteristics, and standard risk factors do not account for the pattern in returns across presidencies. An investment strategy that exploits the presidential cycle predictability generates abnormal returns as large as 6.9% per annum. Our results suggest market underreaction to predictable variation in the effect of government spending policies.
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