Firm Partisan Political Positioning, Affective Polarization, and Risk Communication: Examining Firms’ Voluntary Disclosures on Covid-19

Richard A. Benton (University of Illinois)
J. Adam Cobb (University of Texas at Austin)
Timothy Werner (University of Texas at Austin)

Abstract : COVID-19 is among the most salient issues in the world presently, and for many current executives, it is likely to be among the greatest challenges they will face. Upon entering the U.S. context, the disease was immediately subject to the process of affective polarization, with clear partisan splits forming around perceptions of its risks that did not relate to science. We explore whether firms’ preexisting political positioning affected how they voluntarily disclosed to their investors on a novel, affectively polarized issue by examining whether firms’ disclosure of COVID-19 risks covaries with their partisan political giving. Analyzing conference call and campaign contribution data for the S&P 500, we find a positive association between a firm’s contributions to Democrats and its disclosure of COVID-19 risks.

Coping with Covid-19: Does Management Make Firms More Resilient?

Arti Grover (World Bank)
Valerie Karplus (Carnegie Mellon University)

Abstract : The spread of COVID-19 has disrupted firm operations on a global scale. Using a comprehensive data set that observes over 3,000 firms in several developing countries shortly before and after the pandemic, we relate firms' structured management practices to post-COIVD outcomes, and report four main findings. First, structured management practices are associated with more limited downside impacts of crisis on firm sales and firm closures in manufacturing but not in services. Better managed manufacturing fims, on average, experience a smaller reduction in sales. Second, in both manufacturing and services, structured management practices are correlated with a firm's ability to adjust or convert product mix and shift to online work arrangements. Third, management practices are not correlated with a firm's ability to adjust on employment margins. Fourth, the resilience of better managed firms is related primarily to incentive practices, and is uncorrelated with operations or targeting practices. Monitoring practices show a modest correlation with a firm's ability to switch to remote work arrangements.

U.s. Churches’ Response to Covid-19: Results from Facebook

Eva Raiber (Aix-Marseille School of Economics)
Paul Seabright (Toulouse School of Economics, IAST)

Abstract : For religious organizations, in-person gatherings are at the heart of their activities, yet they have been identified as some of the early hot spots of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. This study investigates U.S. churches' response to the pandemic by looking at their public Facebook activity. The share of churches that offer an online church activity on a given Sunday more than doubled within two weeks at the beginning of the pandemic and stayed well above baseline levels. Online church activities are positively correlated with the local pandemic situation at the beginning, but uncorrelated with most state interventions. We investigate heterogeneity in the church responses and find that church size and worship style explain differences consistent with churches facing different demand and cost structures. Local voting behavior, on the other hand, explains little of the variation, suggesting that decisions to move online are not reflective of partisan politics.