Work

Abnormal Returns From the Common Stock Investments of Members of the U.S. House of Representatives

Study of House members’ stock trades, 1985–2001, by Alan Ziobrowski and others, in Business and Politics, April 2011.

2 links, 0 backed by primary records

The debate

What it found

A portfolio that mimics the purchases of House Members beats the market by 55 basis points per month (approximately 6% annually).1

Who disputes it

Capitol Losses: The Mediocre Performance of Congressional Stock Portfolios 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 2

Timeline 3 dates

Proof 2 sources

Abnormal Returns From the Common Stock Investments of Members of the U.S. House of Representatives (abstract), Business and Politics, via IDEAS/RePEc, Apr 2011. Scholarship & press
A portfolio that mimics the purchases of House Members beats the market by 55 basis points per month (approximately 6% annually).
Ziobrowski, Alan J. & Boyd, James W. & Cheng, Ping & Ziobrowski, Brigitte J., 2011.
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
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.
Ziobrowski et al. (2011), which examined trades by House members for the odd numbered years between 1985 and 2001.

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