On Wall Street, lawmakers do better than the rest of us
Do lawmakers fare better in the stock market than average citizens? The answer is yes, according to a story that aired yesterday on American Public Media's "Marketplace."
Using the personal financial disclosures of some top lawmakers, reporter Stephen Henn illustrated how those on Capitol Hill can use general information about the condition of the economy to their advantage when it comes to investing - even when they may be the only ones privy to that information.
Georgia State University business professor Alan Ziobrowski told Henn, "Senators make significant abnormal returns." Ziobrowski arrived at this conclusion after examining the personal financial disclosures of hundreds of lawmakers, using them to analyze thousands of stock transactions going back 15 years. His conclusion? "They just outperform the average." He told Henn in the same interview that the portfolios of members of Congress perform even better than those of corporate insiders. "We have every reason to believe they are trading on information the rest of us don't have," he said.
If you're thinking about garnering some investment tips from your member of Congress, you can peruse our database of personal financial disclosures here.
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