Leadership Stock Windfalls

A new NBER working paper finds that members of Congress who become formal leadership (whips, chairs, etc.) dramatically outperform matched peers in personal stock returns — about a 47 percentage‑point annual advantage after ascension. The gains trace to trades timed around regulatory actions, party control, and home‑state/donor ties, suggesting leadership access translates into tradable information and corporate access. — If replicated, this finding proves a concrete mechanism of office‑to‑private enrichment that should reshape debates on STOCK Act enforcement, blind‑trust rules, disclosure timing, and criminal/ethics investigations into lawmakers.