#  Elisabeth Kempf (Alesina Seminar) 

 



####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **February 5, 2026** 

 04:30PM - 05:45PM EST 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **Littauer Center, room M-16**  

 [1805 Cambridge Street  
Cambridge, MA 02138  
United States



 ](<https://www.google.com/maps?q=US MA Cambridge 02138 1805 Cambridge Street>) 

Department of Economics

 

 

 



 

## Speaker &amp; Title

Elisabeth Kempf (HBS), "The Political Polarization of Corporate America"

## Abstract

U.S. executives are increasingly segregating by political party. We establish this new fact using political affiliations from voter registration records for top executives of S&amp;P 1500 firms between 2008 and 2022. We identify key drivers of this trend, including growing segregation among executives within geographies and industries. Executives whose political views differ from the majority of their team are more likely to depart, contributing to the increasing polarization. Furthermore, an analysis of insider trading behavior suggests that intensifying partisan disagreement among executives may further fuel this segregation. Across all of these findings, we observe a significant shift in the dynamics around the 2016 U.S. presidential election, which marks an inflection point in the political polarization of corporate leadership.



 

Co-sponsored by FAS and IQSS, the Alberto Alesina Seminar on Political Economy supports research-related activities that integrate the study of economics and politics, whether by studying economic behavior in the political process or political behavior in the marketplace. In general, positive political economy is concerned with showing how observed differences among institutions affect political and economic outcomes in various social, economic, and political systems and how the institutions themselves change and develop in response to individual and collective beliefs, preferences, and strategies.

All interested faculty and students are invited to attend.



 

 



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 See also:- [ Alesina Seminar on Political Economy ](/program/seminar-political-economy)
 
 

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