Partisan Impacts on the Economy: Evidence from Prediction Markets and Close Elections and Party Influence in Congress and the Economy Erik Snowberg Justin Wolfers Eric Zitzewitz Stanford GSB Wharton Dartmouth Q Group October 2007 Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” Overview • Do elections matter for asset prices? • Presidential elections matter. GOP wins => – 2% increase in S&P 500 – 10 bp increase in Treasury yields (since 1980) – Stronger $ • Congressional elections matter less – GOP control of one house => 20-60 bp increase in S&P • Broader methodological points – Prediction markets help calibrate value-relevant news – Prediction markets can significantly improve on traditional event studies Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” Do elections affect the economy? • No clear theoretical prediction – Models predicting policy convergence: Hotelling (1929), Downs (1957), Lindbeck and Weibull (1987), Baron (1994) – Models predicting policy divergence: Citizen candidate (Besley and Coate 1997), Party Factions (Roemer 1999), Strategic Extremism (Glaeser et. al. 2005) • If they do, which elections matter? – How important is the Executive Branch vs. Congress? – How much “control” does control of Congress really imply? Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” Methodological research question • Can prediction markets “save” event studies? They help with: – Measuring pre-event probability – Determining event window length – Controlling for other news released with event (e.g., impact of 2004 election on 2008) – Expanding set of analyzable events (non-surprise events, events that never happen, events before they happen) • But require (even greater) faith in efficient markets • And provide new opportunities for correlation vs. causation confusion Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” Prediction market event studies Political Events Economic Variables Re-election probability • Forbes and muni bonds (Slemrod and Greimel, 1999) • UK elections and the FTSE (Herron, 2000) • A cottage industry prior to the 2004 election Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” Issues • Such studies may be biased: Fair (1978), Carville’s Law Economic Variables Political Events Re-election probability Other News Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” Two approaches to identification • Instrumental variables – An indicator that captures policy news, but not news that affects outcomes directly • A market on who will win a debate • Instrumental events – An event window in which news is all policy news – E.g., election night, Dean’s Scream Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” 100 Election Night 2004 1150 Exit Polls Leaked 75 1140 1135 50 1130 Early Returns Begin 25 0 12:00 15:00 18:00 21:00 0:00 3:00 Time, EST November 2-3, 2004 % Snowberg, Probability Bush wins Presidency (Tradesports) S&P 500 Future, DeliveryInfluence” Date 12/2004 (CME) Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party 1125 1120 1115 6:00 S&P Index Level Probability Bush wins Presidency, % 1145 Election Night 2004 • To estimate the effect of Bush vs. Kerry we estimate the model: Log(S&P 500t) = Re-election probabilityt+ t • Prediction markets are slower to move than financial markets – use 10 and 30 minute windows – Scholes-Williams as a robustness check • Missing observations create heteroskedasticity – WLS to reduce impact of this – White (1980) standard errors for robustness to remaining heteroskedasticity Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” Results: 2004 Financial Variable S&P 500 Dow Jones Industrial Average Nasdaq 100 Dollar (vs. Trade-Weighted Currency Portfolio) Dec 04 Light Crude Oil Futures Dec 05 Dec 06 2 Year T-Note Future 10 Year T-Bill Future 10 Minute Intervals 30 Minute Intervals Estimate N Estimate N Dependent Variable: Log (Price Financial Variable) 0.016*** 0.020*** 104 35 (0.004) (0.005) 0.014*** 0.016*** 84 29 (0.005) (0.005) 0.019*** 0.024*** 104 35 (0.005) (0.008) 0.004 0.005** 84 34 (0.003) (0.002) Dependent Variable: (Price) 1.068*** 1.634*** 88 29 (0.350) (0.592) 0.642* 1.032* 85 28 (0.346) (0.558) -0.281 -0.901 63 21 (0.751) (0.782) Dependent Variable: (Yield) 0.095* 0.105** 84 30 (0.057) (0.044) 0.108** 0.116** 91 31 (0.048) (0.049) Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” How biased is the other method? Daily Differences Financial Variable S&P 500 Dow Jones Industrial Average Nasdaq 100 Dollar (vs. Trade-Weighted Currency Portfolio) Light Crude Oil Futures (Near Month) 10 Year T-Bill Yield 5-day Differences 20-day Differences Dependent Variable: Log (Price) 0.087*** 0.128** 0.243*** (0.034) (0.062) (0.065) 0.093*** 0.145** 0.275*** (0.032) (0.064) (0.090) 0.143*** 0.212** 0.299*** (0.062) (0.098) (0.107) 0.040** 0.017** 0.021 (0.019) (0.022) (0.044) Dependent Variable: (Price) 0.468 -7.269** -12.570*** (4.210) (3.586) (3.213) Dependent Variable: (Yield) 0.214 0.967* 0.202 (0.299) (0.523) (0.598) In this case, very. Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” Results: 2004 • Under Bush v. Kerry: – Stock indices rise 1.5% - 2.5% – Oil prices are higher for up to a year • Long term oil futures not liquid enough for strong conclusions – The US dollar strengthens somewhat – Bond yields are 10 basis points higher • Similar results from inflation-indexed bonds • Rough interpretation: – Bush is perceived as good for returns to capital – But he is perceived as fiscally less conservative than Kerry – Caveat: this tells us nothing about welfare • Is this a Republican effect, or an incumbency effect? – Look at 2000 election • Is this a Bush effect or a Republican effect? – Examine earlier elections: 1880 onward Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” Election Night 2000 • The 2000 election would make another great study, except … – There was no prediction market tracking the probability of victory of either candidate • IEM tracked winner of the popular vote • Centerbet closed their contract the morning of the election • Centerbet closed with Bush at a 60% chance of winning – Can use this to bound the effect of Bush vs. Gore (the candidates, not the court case) Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” Election Night 2000 2:15 Florida called for Bush Index, 18:00 November 6 = 100 101 100 4:00 Bush call rescinded 22:00 Gore call rescinded 99 98 20:00 Florida called for Gore 97 18:00 21:00 0:00 3:00 Time (EST) November 6-7, 2000 S&P 500 Future, Delivery date 12/2000 (CME) Trade Weighted Currency Future, Delivery Date 12/2000 (CME) Nasdaq 100 Future, Delivery date 12/2000 (CME) Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” 6:00 Election Night 2000 Index, 18:00 November 6 = 100 101 100 99 98 97 18:00 21:00 0:00 3:00 Time (EST) November 6-7, 2000 S&P 500 Future, Delivery date 12/2000 (CME) Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” 6:00 Election Night 2000 Index, 18:00 November 6 = 100 101 S&P = 0.75% ≥ 1.9% P(Bush) ≤ 0.4 100 S&P = -0.8% ≥ 1.3% P(Bush) ≤ -0.6 99 18:00 21:00 0:00 3:00 Time (EST) November 6-7, 2000 S&P 500 Future, Delivery date 12/2000 (CME) Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” 6:00 Same exercise in 2004 1150 S&P = 1.3% = 2% P(Bush) = 0.65 1145 75 1140 1135 50 1130 1125 25 S&P = -0.7% = 2.3% P(Bush) = -0.3 0 12:00 15:00 18:00 21:00 0:00 1120 3:00 Time, EST November 2-3, 2004 % Probability Bush wins Presidency (Tradesports) S&P 500 Future, Delivery Date 12/2004 (CME) Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” 1115 6:00 S&P Index Level Probability Bush wins Presidency, % 100 Results: 2000 and 2004 2000 2004 Financial Variable 21:00 2:15 S&P 500 2.0% 1.3% 1.9% Nasdaq 100 2.4% 3.7% 3.0% Dollar (vs. Trade-Weighted Currency Portfolio) 0.5% 0.6% 0.7% • Estimates in-line with each other and 2004 -> a Bush effect, not an incumbency effect • Can we say more about partisanship’s effect on these economic variables? Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” How Common are Such Events? Somewhat. Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” Electoral Surprise • Electoral Surprise is defined by: I(Rep. won) - P(Rep. win before election) • If, before an election the Republican has a 60% chance of winning then electoral surprise is: – + 40% if the Republican wins – - 60% if the Democrat wins • Every election has some degree of surprise, ranging from: – Slight (3%) in Davis vs. Coolidge (1924) – Extreme (-89%) in Truman vs. Dewey (1948) Markets move in response to this surprise Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” Pre-election close to Post-election close Equities and Electoral Surprise Equity Market Responses to Electoral Shocks: 1880-2004 .04 McKinley-1896 Clinton-1996 McKinley-1900 Taft-1908 Wilson-1912 Reagan-1980 Roosevelt-1936 Coolidge-1924 Hoover-1928 Roosevelt-1904 Harding-1920 .02 GWBush-2004 Kennedy-1960 Harrison-1888 Eisenhower-1952 Reagan-1984 Cleveland-1892 Nixon-1968 Johnson-1964 Roosevelt-1944 Bush-1988 Wilson-1916 Nixon-1972 Garfield-1880 0 Clinton-1992 Eisenhower-1956 Carter-1976 Cleveland-1884 GWBush-2000 -.02 Roosevelt-1940 -.04 Roosevelt-1932 Truman-1948 -1 -.75 -.5 -.25 0 .25 .5 .75 Shock to Probability of a Republican President I(Republican President) - Pre-election prediction market price Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” 1 Equities: 1880 - 2004 Prob(GOP President) Prob(Incumbent) • Santa-Clara and Valkanov (2003) conduct a similar analysis and find no election day effects (1928-1996) – In their analysis shock is always ±100% • Longer-run analysis confirms incumbency is not a factor Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” Pre-election close to Post-election clos Bonds and surprises Bond Market Responses to Electoral Shocks Pre-Reagan: 1892-1976 15 Since Reagan: 1980-2004 Reag an -19 80 15 Reag an -19 84 10 10 Carter-1 97 6 5 GWBush-200 4 5 Roo sev elt-19 32 Nixo n-1 97 2 Coo lidg e-192 4 0 Clin ton -19 92 Wilson -19 16 Roo sev Wilson Jo elt-19 hnHard so -19 44 Eisen McKinley-19 Hoo n-1 Taft-190 12 ing96 ver-19 -1 ho4920 wer-1 Eisen 8 2895 00ho 6 wer-1 95 2 Roo sev elt-19 04 Truman -19 48 Nixo n-1 96 8 Clev eland -18 92 Kenn ed y-1 96 0 Bush -1 GWBush-200 98 8 0 0 Roo Roo sev sev elt-19 elt-19 4036 -5 -5 -1 -.75 -.5 -.25 0 .25 .5 .75 1 Clin ton -19 96 -1 -.75 -.5 -.25 0 .25 .5 .75 1 Shock to Probability of a Republican President I(Republican President) - Pre-election prediction market price Change in bond yields = 0.03 + 1.48*Post_1980 + Change in prob(Republican)*(0.05 + 12.79*Post_1980) (0.91) (2.31) (2.60) (8.51) R-sq=0.23 Note: Chart shows estimate of bond market reaction for 2004 estimated from Table 1 Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” Other issues • 2008 Presidential party odds did not change – Suggests no incumbent party advantage for Presidency • Adding Congressional control contracts in 2004 does not alter results – Not much variation in Congressional probabilities on election day – Next paper suggests effect of Congress not that large anyway • Adding controls for expected electoral vote total in 2004 does not alter results – Suggests winner mattered much more than margin of victory • Do markets rally in response to the resolution of uncertainty? – No evidence of this Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” Other issues (2) • Did market declines when exit polls leaked influence late voting? – Maybe, but similar estimates from 3-6 pm and 6pm-midnight windows suggests this is not biasing results – Comparison of exit poll panels suggests no shift toward Bush in evening vote • Reconciliation with studies showing higher stock returns under Democrats (e.g., Santa Clara and Valkanov, 2003) – These studies have low power (SD of 4-year returns = 37%, N since 1880 = 31 => SE of GOP-Dem difference = +/- 10%) – Excluding 1929-36 flips sign – Results suggest that traders do not expect past outperformance under Dems to continue Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” Party Influence in Congress and the Economy Erik Snowberg Stanford GSB Justin Wolfers Wharton – U.Penn CEPR, IZA & NBER Eric Zitzewitz Stanford GSB Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” What about Congress? • Competing theories of legislator behavior – Cartel theories (Cox and McCubbins, 2002) • Policy is made by the median member of the majority – Suggests similar effects as in Presidential elections (Median Democrat v. Median Republican) – Weak discipline (Krehbiel, 1993) • Party labels are only a rough description of preferences – Suggests policy made by median representative – Median rarely shifts much (Joe Lieberman v. Lincoln Chafee) • “Divided” versus “Unified” Government – Is divided better than unified control by either party? – Was the Democrats winning 2 houses in 2006 less than twice as important as their winning one? Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” 0 20 40 60 80 100 GOP victory probabilities every 10 minutes, 11/7/2006 18 20 22 Eastern Time HOUSE VA MO 24 SENATE MT TN Bid-ask midpoints, data treated as missing if bid-ask spread is wider than 10 points. Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” 26 Close-up: 2006 Senate experiment 9 p.m.-2 a.m. 100 Magnifying y-scale for for S&P 500 100.00 2006 Senate Race 99.95 S&P 500: Index 4pm=100 80 60 40 99.90 99.85 20 99.80 0 99.75 9 p.m. 10 p.m. 11 p.m. Election Day Midnight 1 a.m. 2 a.m. Post-election Day Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” Congress v. The White House Dependent Variable: S&P 500 Pr(Senate) Pr(House) n Pr(President) n 0.174* (.089) 0.537 (.729) 30 2.05*** (.503) 35 Table 1 Log(Price)/100 Price ($) Nasdaq Japanese Canadian Euro Oil 100 Yen Dollar Congressional Elections, 2006 0.156 0.025 0.087 0.022 0.034 (.101) (.045) (.061) (.045) (.079) -0.017 0.015 -0.450 0.553 -0.209 (1.11) (.707) (.634) (.687) (.893) 29 28 28 28 30 Presidential Elections, 2004 *** * 2.40 -0.531 -0.694* -0.488** 1.706** (.814) (.296) (.358) (.221) (.659) 35 34 34 34 29 Yield (bp) 2 Year 10 Year T-Note T-Note 0.918 (1.15) -1.31 (6.54) 26 0.701 (.693) -2.11 (6.09) 27 10.8*** (3.58) 30 12.0*** (4.65) 31 Notes: ***, **, * denote statistically significant at 1%, 5% and 10%, respectively. (White standard errors in parentheses.) Sample period is 4 p.m. Eastern Time on 11/7/2006 to nine a.m. on 11/8/2006, for 2002 it is 4pm on 11/5/2002 to 12pm on 11/6/2002. Election probabilities are the most recent transaction prices collected every thirty minutes from Tradesports.com. When there are missing observation, and the bid and ask prices are within 10 percentage points of each other, we use the bid-ask average. All futures have delivery dates of December 2006, December 2004 and December 2002, respectively. • Supplementary evidence: Large “Rumsfeld effect” – S&P 500 rose 0.6% on news of his resignation – Tradesports suggests that markets had already priced in a 40% chance of a 2006 resignation Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” Election Night: 2002 100 100.9 S&P 500: 4 p.m. on Election Day = 100 Election Night: 2002 80 60 40 100.6 100.3 100.0 20 4 p.m. 99.7 6 p.m. 8 p.m. 10 p.m. Midnight Probability of a Republican Majority in the Senate (Tradesports) Probability of a Republican Majority in the House (Tradesports) S&P 500 Future (CME), right axis Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” Congressional Elections, Compared Dependent Variable: S&P 500 Pr(Senate) Pr(House) n Pr(Senate) 0.593** (.231) 13 Pr(President) 2.05*** (.503) 35 n n 0.174* (.089) 0.537 (.729) 30 Table 1 Log(Price)/100 Price ($) Nasdaq Japanese Canadian Euro Oil 100 Yen Dollar Panel A: Congressional Elections, 2006 0.156 0.025 0.087 0.022 0.034 (.101) (.045) (.061) (.045) (.079) -0.017 0.015 -0.450 0.553 -0.209 (1.11) (.707) (.634) (.687) (.893) 29 28 28 28 30 Panel B: Congressional Elections, 2002 0.728 -0.196 0.011 0.071 0.148** (.419) (0.187) (.127) (.068) (0.060) 12 13 13 12 14 Panel C: Presidential Elections, 2004 *** 2.40 -0.531* -0.694* -0.488** 1.706** (.814) (.296) (.358) (.221) (.659) 35 34 34 34 29 Yield (bp) 2 Year 10 Year T-Note T-Note 0.918 (1.15) -1.31 (6.54) 26 0.701 (.693) -2.11 (6.09) 27 4.51* (1.81) 7 2.21* (1.02) 7 10.8*** (3.58) 30 12.0*** (4.65) 31 Notes: ***, **, * denote statistically significant at 1%, 5% and 10%, respectively. (White standard errors in parentheses.) Sample period is 4 p.m. Eastern Time on 11/7/2006 to nine a.m. on 11/8/2006, for 2002 it is 4pm on 11/5/2002 to 12pm on 11/6/2002. Election probabilities are the most recent transaction prices collected every thirty minutes from Tradesports.com. When there are missing observation, and the bid and ask prices are within 10 percentage points of each other, we use the bid-ask average. All futures have delivery dates of December 2006, December 2004 and December 2002, respectively. Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” 100.5 Election Night: 1994 Republican Takeover 1994 Election: Republican Takeover 100.4 100.3 CBS calls House for GOP CNN calls House for GOP TV anchors hint at pro-GOP exit polls NPR reports GOP win >=6 Senate seats CNN calls Senate for GOP 100.2 100.1 100.0 Early exit polls available to party operatives 4 p.m. 6 p.m. 8 p.m. 10 p.m. Midnight S&P 500 Future (CME) Note: Timing of info reflects press reports. (Intraday prediction markets were unavailable to track electoral shocks.) Election eve: Prob. GOP House majority = 20%; Prob. GOP Senate majority = 70% Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” 1994 Republican Takeover • Election-eve odds: – Prob.(GOP Senate) = 70% – Prob.(GOP House) = 20% • From 4pm-11pm – – – – – S&P 500 rose 0.40% (standard error = 0.29%) Oil prices rose $0.26 (0.07) Yen rose 0.17% (0.18) German Mark rose 0.20% (0.17) 10-year Treasury note was unchanged • Standard errors are SD of 4pm-11pm changes from 50 weekdays prior to 1994 election and 50 weekdays after. Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” Jeffords Experiment • May 2001: Jim Jeffords handed the senate back to the Democrats – Jayachandran (JLE 2006) estimates • Average Democrat-supporting firm rose 0.11% • Average Republican-supporting firm fell 0.43% • Net effect = -0.32% – Unfortunately the Jeffords defection played out over too long of a period (a week) for us to apply our methods Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” Divided Govt v. Unified Govt • “The prospect of gridlock has been welcomed, as usual, on Wall Street” – John Tierney, NY Times, 11/14/2006 • 2006: Republican House loss created divided govt – Yet markets fell in response • 2002: Republican Senate victory created unified govt – Yet markets rose in response • 1998: No experiment: Republicans won as expected • 1994: Republican takeover – Markets rose, but roughly consistent with pure partisan effect • Earlier Presidential elections – On average no effect of unified goverment Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” Shape of the stock marketGOP control relationship S&P 500 (M) 2006 House: 54bp 2002 Senate: 59bp GOP WH, 2 GOP Hses 2006 Senate: 17bp GOP WH, 1 GOP Hse 2004 Pres: 200bp 2000 Pres: >160bp GOP WH, 0 GOP Hses 1994 Congress: 73bp Dem WH, 2 GOP Hses No evidence of Tierney’s story (M’’(c)<0) Dem WH, 0 GOP Hses Some evidence for M’’’(c)>0 Degree of GOP control (c) Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” Conclusions about substance • Evidence of systematic partisan effects – Effects on equity markets consistent with usual characterization of right-wing parties – But bond market effects differ: Republicans cause higher interest rates. • Congressional elections yield: – Similar qualitative pattern of partisan effects – But quantitatively much smaller – Suggesting weak party discipline (or Congress irrelevant) • Partisan effects overwhelm any preference for divided versus unified government • Election-night experiments yielded very different estimates than previous observational studies Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence” Conclusions about method • Prediction markets can help solve many of the problems with traditional event studies – Measuring pre-event probabilities – Identifying event window – Increasing precision (our SE for Senate 2006 is 0.09% vs. 0.9% for 1928-96 using traditional method) – Controlling for other information released • But one needs to be very careful about identification – Pre-election correlations were very misleading Snowberg, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, “Partisan Effects” and “Party Influence”