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Leaders' superior performance arises through two mechanisms. The political influence channel is reflected in higher returns when their party controls the chamber, sales of stocks preceding regulatory actions, and purchase of stocks whose firms receiving more government contracts and favorable party support on bills. The corporate access channel is reflected in stock trades that predict subsequent corporate news and greater returns on donor-owned or home-state firms. * Acknowledgements and Disclosures We thank comments from Sumit Agarwal, Ron Kaniel, Roni Michaely, Lyndon Moore, Antoinette Schoar, and seminar/conference participants at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Columbia Business School, Deakin University, Macquarie University, Peking University (HSBC and Guanghua), Shanghai Lixin University of Accounting and Finance, Tsinghua University, University of Sydney, University of Technology Sydney, 2023 Australasian Finance and Banking Conference, 2023 Finance Down Under, and 2023 Five Star Workshop in Finance for their helpful comments. We thank Lei Chen, Jingru Pan, Yiyun Yan, Zitong Zeng, and Tianyue Zheng for their excellent research assistance. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. * Citation and Citation Data Copy Citation Shang-Jin Wei and Yifan Zhou, ""Captain Gains" on Capitol Hill," NBER Working Paper 34524 (2025), https://doi.org/10.3386/w34524. Copy to Clipboard Download Citation (*) MARC ( ) RIS ( ) BibTeKh Download Citation Data Related Topics Financial Economics Financial Markets Other Economic Systems Programs Corporate Finance Political Economy Mentioned in the News Follow the leader. New research finds these members of Congress are the best stock pickers. December 1, 2025 Source: Market Watch Read the research here. 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