Washington Times
It’s no secret that members of Congress
qualify as political insiders, but a new report strongly suggests that
they also may be insiders when it comes to trading stocks.
An extensive study released Wednesday in the journal Business and Politics found that the investments of members of the House of Representatives
outperformed those of the average investor by 55 basis points per
month, or 6 percent annually, suggesting that lawmakers are taking
advantage of inside information to fatten their stock portfolios.
“We find strong evidence that members of the House
have some type of non-public information which they use for personal
gain,” according to four academics who authored the study, “Abnormal
Returns From the Common Stock Investments of Members of the U.S. House of Representatives.”
To
the frustration of open-government advocates, lawmakers and their staff
members largely have immunity from laws barring trading on insider
knowledge that have sent many a private corporate chieftain to prison.
The watchdog group OpenSecrets.org said on its blog Wednesday that the findings suggest “that U.S. House members are using their powerful roles for more than just political gain.”…
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