Political Discretion and Antitrust Policy: Evidence from the Assassination of President McKinley

Abstract

for research assistance. The authors declare that they have no relevant or material financial interests that relate to the research described in this paper. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.

The effects of competition policy, regulatory quality and trust on inward FDI in host countries

“…Legal action turns economic and jurisprudential theory into litigation, remedy, prohibition, deterrence, and precedent that advance competition". Further, recent studies on the history of U.S. CP have impressively demonstrated how large was the scope of discretion in CP enforcement, concluding that the most significant changes in CP for its effectiveness came from changes in the approach taken to the law enforcement (Baker, Frydman, & Hilt, 2018b). Even, it is suggested a sort of 'reverse causality', according to which "the most significant change in antitrust jurisprudence occurred in the 1970s, when stringent antitrust enforcement triggered a backlash that transformed law and policy" (Sawyer, 2019, p. 3).…”

How Much Does Political Uncertainty Matter? The Case of Louisiana under Huey Long

“…First, even in our treatment-control setup, there is still a question if whether the relative increases in political uncertainty during Huey's tenure are due to economic events particular to Louisiana. Similar to the work by Benjamin F. Jones and Benjamin A. Olken (2005) and Baker, Carola Frydman, and Eric Hilt (2014), Long's assassination is useful as an arguably exogenous and unforeseen event that put an end to his political dominance of Louisiana. The second reason for studying this event is that based on narrative evidence, it did appear to have affected people's beliefs about the direction of policy.…”

“…“All over the state Long had supporters like the Fishers [owners of several major companies involved in furs, fishing, shrimping, and canning] or Savoie [a family which dominated Assumption parish both economically and politically]” (Williams 1981, p. 261). The unexpected assassination of Long in 1935 provides a potentially very valuable case study to place alongside the work of Baker, Frydman, and Hilt (2014) on the assassination of President McKinley, Jones and Olken (2009) on attempted assassinations of leaders more generally, and Thomas Ferguson and Voth (2008) on political connections in Hitler's Germany.…”

Behavioral Economics of Accounting: A Review of Archival Research on Individual Decision Makers

“…100 Ultimately, research on individual politicians is still in its infancy, and more work in this area can enhance our understanding of accounting regulation and enforcement. Future work can also leverage on a burgeoning literature in economics and finance Olken 2005, 2009;Baker et al 2018).…”