Do politicians leverage private information for personal financial gain? The widespread concern about insider trading in Congress has intensified since the COVID-19 pandemic. Although previous literature suggests lawmakers are merely “mediocre investors,” public skepticism persists, largely driven by media reports highlighting the suspicious timing of legislators’ stock trades. I revisit this question by constructing a novel dataset that tracks stock trading history of Congress members and their immediate families from 2012 to 2023.

A growing body of literature studying corporate political activities (CPA) often uses executives’ political ideology, estimated from their campaign contributions, as a proxy to measure a firm's political leaning. What biases does this method introduce? How partisan are American corporations?

(With Jack Kappelman). The United States leads the world in the number of violent mass shootings that occur each year, yet policy making on gun violence prevention efforts remains stagnant and polarized along party lines. Are legislators responsive to mass shootings? We collect data on roll-call voting records from state legislators and combine it with a unique dataset that assesses all firearm-related bills introduced in the U.S. state legislatures from 2011 to 2022.

APSA 2024

(With Dan Thompson and Michael Morse). Since 2016, half of all US states have enacted laws that register eligible citizens to vote by default when they interact with the DMV or another state agency. These policies have dramatically increased the number of registered citizens in these states. What share of the newly registered citizens are voting? We answer this question using an instrumental variable strategy and our national voter file.

(With Jack Kappelman). The existing literature on the electoral consequences of mass shootings lacks a focused examination of racially motivated hate crimes. How do hate-inspired mass shootings targeting specific racial or ethnic minority identity groups affect the political engagement of targeted in-group members? We utilize voter file data and a difference-in-discontinuities (RD-DiD) design to study how the 2015 Charleston church shooting, the 2019 El Paso Walmart shooting, and the 2021 Atlanta spa shooting affect the political engagement of targeted minority groups.

Existing literature suggests that Asian candidates are advantaged in elections, yet Asian Americans remain the most underrepresented group in politics. This is because the supply of Asian candidates is insufficient. How do anti-Asian sentiments during the COVID-19 pandemic incentivize more Asian Americans to run for office?