Work

Capitol Losses: The Mediocre Performance of Congressional Stock Portfolios

Study by Andrew Eggers and Jens Hainmueller, in the Journal of Politics, April 2013, that rereads the earlier studies and adds an analysis of 2004–2008.

4 links, 0 backed by primary records

Play the story Explore connections

Dates: Apr 2013
Also known as: Capitol Losses

The debate

What it found

First, we reinterpret existing studies of congressional stock trading between 1985 and 2001 and conduct our own analysis of trades in the 2004–2008 period, concluding that in neither period do members of Congress trade with an information advantage.1

What it disputes

Abnormal Returns from the Common Stock Investments of the U.S. Senate Apr 2013
We call this consensus into question.1 2
The authors reread the published tables of both earlier studies.
Abnormal Returns From the Common Stock Investments of Members of the U.S. House of Representatives Apr 2013
by the standards of Ziobrowski et al. (2004), and contrary to Ziobrowski’s congressional testimony, Ziobrowski et al. (2011)’s reported results imply that House members do not in fact display unusually good trading acumen.2
The authors say the House study reports no result for the buy-minus-sell portfolio that the Senate study stressed.

Each side is quoted in its own words. Whether a finding holds is not decided here.

Connections 4

disputes a finding of

Abnormal Returns from the Common Stock Investments of the U.S. Senate Apr 2013 According to Capitol Losses: The Mediocre Performance of Congressional Stock Portfolios Scholarship & press 1 2
The authors reread the published tables of both earlier studies.
Abnormal Returns From the Common Stock Investments of Members of the U.S. House of Representatives Apr 2013 According to Capitol Losses: The Mediocre Performance of Congressional Stock Portfolios Scholarship & press 2
The authors say the House study reports no result for the buy-minus-sell portfolio that the Senate study stressed.

author

Andrew Eggers Apr 2013 Scholarship & press 1
Jens Hainmueller Apr 2013 Scholarship & press 1

Timeline 5 dates

Apr 2013 Capitol Losses: The Mediocre Performance of Congressional Stock Portfolios
Apr 2013 Capitol Losses: The Mediocre Performance of Congressional Stock Portfolios disputes a finding of Abnormal Returns from the Common Stock Investments of the U.S. Senate According to Capitol Losses: The Mediocre Performance of Congressional Stock Portfolios
Apr 2013 Capitol Losses: The Mediocre Performance of Congressional Stock Portfolios disputes a finding of Abnormal Returns From the Common Stock Investments of Members of the U.S. House of Representatives According to Capitol Losses: The Mediocre Performance of Congressional Stock Portfolios
Apr 2013 Andrew Eggers authored Capitol Losses: The Mediocre Performance of Congressional Stock Portfolios
Apr 2013 Jens Hainmueller authored Capitol Losses: The Mediocre Performance of Congressional Stock Portfolios

Proof 2 sources

Capitol losses: the mediocre performance of Congressional stock portfolios (abstract), Journal of Politics, via LSE Research Online, Apr 2013. Scholarship & press
First, we reinterpret existing studies of congressional stock trading between 1985 and 2001 and conduct our own analysis of trades in the 2004–2008 period, concluding that in neither period do members of Congress trade with an information advantage.
We call this consensus into question.
Eggers, A. C. & Hainmueller, J.
Capitol Losses: The Mediocre Performance of Congressional Stock Portfolios, 2004-2008 (working paper, December 2011), Authors’ working paper, hosted at MIT, 2 Dec 2011. Scholarship & press
just four senators account for nearly half of the trades, and therefore high performance by just a few individuals could explain the aggregate results.
by the standards of Ziobrowski et al. (2004), and contrary to Ziobrowski’s congressional testimony, Ziobrowski et al. (2011)’s reported results imply that House members do not in fact display unusually good trading acumen.

Page history 1 change

2026-11-02Add 55 stories, each checked against its sourcesAlibek96e92fe6

Something wrong or missing? Tell us, with a source, or edit this page.