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>This is saying that people in congressional leadership positions do 47% better than other members of Congress. It's even more damning than that I think. >we
by ApolloFortyNine 10mo ago
>This is saying that people in congressional leadership positions do 47% better than other members of Congress.
It's even more damning than that I think.
>we find that lawmakers who later ascend to leadership positions perform similarly to matched peers beforehand but outperform them by 47 percentage points annually after ascension.
The same person makes more after being put in a leadership position than before. That essentially removes any possibility of 'well maybe they're just more knowledgable and that's why they're in leadership.'
- IAmBroom 10mo ago[flagged]
- johndhi 10mo agoBut added "annually"! That's a lot better!
- deleted 10mo ago[deleted]
- bo1024 10mo agoI think the point is that this study suggests a causal relationship (having leadership power enables one to make more money), which is stronger than just correlation (being in leadership positions correlated with making more money).
- roughly 10mo agoHere’s the strongest steel man I can provide: A person typically picks stocks based on some view of the future: what’s going to be valuable, how the world is going to change, etc. Presumably, a congressperson does the same when drafting legislation - try to move the world in the direction they think it should go. The underlying worldview and outlook is the shared variable, and congresspeople in leadership positions are more capable of moving the world the way they think it should go than anyone else. The increased stock performance is because someone in congressional leadership’s predictions for the future are more self-fulfilling than most. (Again, that’s the best steel man I can offer, and if you made it this far without laughing, I commend you)
- gblargg 10mo agoJust require their stock allocations to be made public and anyone can follow their example.
- diehunde 10mo agoAren't they required to make their stock trades public?
- downrightmike 10mo agoPositive assortative matching aka rotten eggs stick together