Table 4. Probability of Acquisition

The table presents treatment effect estimates of legalizing direct campaign contributions on the probability that a utility is acquired in a merger or acquisition. Legal is an indicator variable equal to one if the state allows corporate contributions to either candidates or political parties. POST is an indicator variable equal to one in the years following the PUHCA’s 2005 repeal. Fixed effects, as noted in the table, include state (ST), year (YR), and operating company (OC). Controls include senate, house, PUC and governor party control, citizen and institution ideology, CAPM beta, state-level unemployment rates, change in per capita income, and share of manufacturing and utility jobs. Standard errors are clustered by state. *** p<0.01, ** p<0.05, * p<0.1.
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