Does Political Connection Mitigate the Sanctions for Corruptions? Evidence From the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)
研究发现美国企业的政治关联越强，因违反《反海外腐败法》所受的制裁越轻，且贿赂金额越大时该效应越明显；受罚企业还会加强政治关联。
ABSTRACT This paper examines the effect of political connection on sanctions for violations of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Using a sample of revealed FCPA sanctions and two alternative proxies for US firms’ political connections, we find a negative association between political connection and the severity of sanctions, an effect that is more pronounced as the size of bribes increases. In addition, the identity of prosecutors is less likely to be disclosed as political connections become stronger. Further, firms experiencing higher penalties appear to strengthen their political connections after the FCPA sanctions. Finally, we conduct a number of tests to address alternative explanations and endogeneity concerns. Overall, our findings are consistent with firms using their political influence to obtain favorable treatment in FCPA enforcements and therefore provide important policy‐making implications.