How Do the CEO Political Leanings Affect REIT Business Decisions?

Business decisions made by the real estate industry can have a profound effect on the wellbeing of people who live, work, or shop in these buildings. While these decisions may be informed by evidence, the available evidence is often incomplete, unrepresentative or otherwise less than ideal. Therefore, the personal opinions or judgments of senior executives can have an effect. In this paper, we study these effects in two parts: risk-taking and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. Since political opinion is a relatively stable measure, which is also associated with preferences for risk and CSR, we examine how the political leanings of the CEO are related to these effects. Based on the data from 1999 to 2013, we find that Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) with Democrat-leaning CEOs tend to take more risks, as evidenced by higher levels of leverage, more capital expenditures and risky investments. We further find that politically active CEOs are more broadly engaged in different types of CSR activities. JEL Codes: D21, G32, M14, Q56