The Effects of Political Polarization on Financial Decision Making

Authors

  • Hamza Hussain Department of Agribusiness and Consumer Science, King Faisal University, Al Ahsa, Saudi Arabia Author
  • Khalid Al Tajir Department of Agribusiness and Consumer Science, King Faisal University, Al Ahsa, Saudi Arabia Author
  • Rashid Habib Department of Agribusiness and Consumer Science, King Faisal University, Al Ahsa, Saudi Arabia Author
  • Saiyyad Abboud Department of Agribusiness and Consumer Science, King Faisal University, Al Ahsa, Saudi Arabia Author
  • Syed Fadel Department of Agribusiness and Consumer Science, King Faisal University, Al Ahsa, Saudi Arabia Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.63995/SIVB6153

Keywords:

Bias; Decision Making; Financial Markets; Investor Behavior; Partisanship; Political Polarization; Risk Perception

Abstract

Political polarization significantly impacts financial decision-making, affecting both individual investors and broader financial markets. As political divisions deepen, individuals' financial choices increasingly reflect their partisan beliefs, often leading to biased investment behaviors. Investors may favor companies or sectors perceived as aligned with their political views, potentially overlooking objective financial metrics. This bias can result in suboptimal investment portfolios, higher risk exposure, and lower returns. Polarization also influences market sentiment and volatility. Politically charged events, such as elections or policy announcements, can lead to heightened uncertainty and market fluctuations. Investors react not only to the economic implications of policies but also to their alignment with personal beliefs, exacerbating market instability. For example, differing expectations about regulatory changes can cause significant swings in stock prices, particularly in industries like healthcare, energy, and finance. Furthermore, political polarization affects policymakers' ability to implement consistent economic policies, creating an unpredictable regulatory environment. This uncertainty can deter long-term investments and hinder economic growth. Companies may delay expansion or innovation plans due to unclear future regulations, impacting overall market performance. Understanding the effects of political polarization on financial decision-making is crucial for developing strategies to mitigate its impact. Financial advisors and investors must navigate these biases and uncertainties to make more informed, objective decisions.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Morris P Fiorina, Samuel A Abrams, and Jeremy C Pope. “Polarization in the American public: Misconceptions and misreadings”. In: The Journal of Politics 70.2 (2008), pp. 556–560. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S002238160808050X

James N Druckman, Erik Peterson, and Rune Slothuus. “How elite partisan polarization affects public opinion formation”. In: American political science review 107.1 (2013), pp. 57–79. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055412000500

Joshua A Tucker, Andrew Guess, Pablo Barberá, Cristian Vaccari, Alexandra Siegel, Sergey Sanovich, Denis Stukal, and Brendan Nyhan. “Social media, political polarization, and political disinformation: A review of the scientific literature”. In: Political polarization, and political disinformation: a review of the scientific literature (March 19, 2018) (2018). DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3144139

Friedrich Stephanie and Louisa Karl. “Incorporating Renewable Energy Systems for a New Era of Grid Stability”. In: Fusion of Multidisciplinary Research, An International Journal (FMR) 1.1 (2020), pp. 37–49. DOI: https://doi.org/10.63995/UVPR3703

Pietro Ortoleva and Erik Snowberg. “Overconfidence in political behavior”. In: American Economic Review 105.2 (2015), pp. 504–535. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20130921

Philip Keefer and Stephen Knack. “Polarization, politics and property rights: Links between inequality and growth”. In: Public choice 111.1 (2002), pp. 127–154. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015168000336

Shanto Iyengar and Sean J Westwood. “Fear and loathing across party lines: New evidence on group polarization”. In: American journal of political science 59.3 (2015), pp. 690–707. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12152

Wu Lin, Tsai Huang, Hsu Chang, Chang Lee, and David Wang. “Unlocking the Potential of BCI: An extensive Guide to Neural Engineering”. In: Fusion of Multidisciplinary Research, An International Journal (FMR) 1.2 (2020), pp. 73–84. DOI: https://doi.org/10.63995/DLJN6827

Jaejoon Woo. “Economic, political, and institutional determinants of public deficits”. In: Journal of public economics 87.3-4 (2003), pp. 387–426. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0047-2727(01)00143-8

Shanto Iyengar, Yphtach Lelkes, Matthew Levendusky, Neil Malhotra, and Sean J Westwood. “The origins and consequences of affective polarization in the United States”. In: Annual review of political science 22.1 (2019), pp. 129–146. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-051117-073034

Justin Farrell. “Corporate funding and ideological polarization about climate change”. In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113.1 (2016), pp. 92–97. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1509433112

Matthew A Baum and Tim Groeling. “New media and the polarization of American political discourse”. In: Political Communication 25.4 (2008), pp. 345–365. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10584600802426965

Antonio Lorenza, Gabriella Caterina, and Bianca Isabella. “Machine Learning Techniques for Accurate Prediction of Proteins Function”. In: Fusion of Multidisciplinary Research, An International Journal (FMR) 1.2 (2020), pp. 85–96.

Emily Kubin and Christian Von Sikorski. “The role of (social) media in political polarization: a systematic review”. In: Annals of the International Communication Association 45.3 (2021), pp. 188–206. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/23808985.2021.1976070

Delia Baldassarri and Andrew Gelman. “Partisans without constraint: Political polarization and trends in American public opinion”. In: American Journal of Sociology 114.2 (2008), pp. 408–446. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/590649

Manuel André, João Margarida, Heitor Garcia, and Augusto Dante. “Complexities of Blockchain Technology and Distributed Ledger Technologies: A Detailed Inspection”. In: Fusion of Multidisciplinary Research, An International Journal (FMR) 2.1 (2021), pp. 164–177. DOI: https://doi.org/10.63995/PMDT9612

Joseph Funderburke. “National Security and Political Polarization”. PhD thesis. University of Central Florida, 2019.

Zoe Oxley. “Framing and political decision making: An overview”. In: Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics (2020). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.1250

Barbara Sinclair. Party wars: Polarization and the politics of national policy making. Vol. 10. University of Oklahoma Press, 2012.

Małgorzata Cognominal, Krystyna Patronymic, and Agnieszka Wańkowicz. “Evolving Field of Autonomous Mobile Robotics. Technological Advances and Applications”. In: Fusion of Multidisciplinary Research, An International Journal (FMR) 2.2 (2021), pp. 189–200.

Jennifer McCoy, Tahmina Rahman, and Murat Somer. “Polarization and the global crisis of democracy: Common patterns, dynamics, and pernicious consequences for democratic polities”. In: American Behavioral Scientist 62.1 (2018), pp. 16–42. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764218759576

Marc J Hetherington. “Putting polarization in perspective”. In: British Journal of Political Science 39.2 (2009), pp. 413–448. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123408000501

Thomas Carothers and Andrew O’Donohue. Democracies divided: The global challenge of political polarization. Brookings Institution Press, 2019.

Blenda Johansson, Elvira Eriksson, Nellie Berglund, and Ingrid Lindgren. “Robotic Surgery: Review on Minimally Invasive Techniques”. In: Fusion of Multidisciplinary Research, An International Journal (FMR) 2.2 (2021), pp. 201–210.

Paula McAvoy and Diana Hess. “Classroom deliberation in an era of political polarization”. In: Curriculum Inquiry 43.1 (2013), pp. 14–47. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/curi.12000

Ro’ee Levy. “Social media, news consumption, and polarization: Evidence from a field experiment”. In: American economic review 111.3 (2021), pp. 831–870. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20191777

Jeff Stonecash. Diverging parties: Social change, realignment, and party polarization. Routledge, 2018. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429500961

Dominic Spohr. “Fake news and ideological polarization: Filter bubbles and selective exposure on social media”. In: Business information review 34.3 (2017), pp. 150–160. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0266382117722446

Josef Baumgartner, Alexandra Schneider, Ulugbek Zhenis, Franz Jager, and Josef Winkler. “Mastering Neural Network Prediction for Enhanced System Reliability”. In: Fusion of Multidisciplinary Research, An International Journal (FMR) 3.1 (2022), pp. 261–274. DOI: https://doi.org/10.63995/RVZF7165

Christopher McConnell, Yotam Margalit, Neil Malhotra, and Matthew Levendusky. “The economic consequences of partisanship in a polarized era”. In: American Journal of Political Science 62.1 (2018), pp. 5–18. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12330

Narjess Boubakri, Sattar A Mansi, and Walid Saffar. “Political institutions, connectedness, and corporate risk-taking”. In: Journal of international business studies 44 (2013), pp. 195–215. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/jibs.2013.2

Nolan McCarty, Keith T Poole, and Howard Rosenthal. Polarized America: The dance of ideology and unequal riches. mit Press, 2016.

Atif Mian, Amir Sufi, and Francesco Trebbi. “Resolving debt overhang: Political constraints in the aftermath of financial crises”. In: American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics 6.2 (2014), pp. 1–28. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1257/mac.6.2.1

Morris P Fiorina and Samuel J Abrams. “Political polarization in the American public”. In: Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci. 11.1 (2008), pp. 563–588. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.11.053106.153836

Marc Heylen, Patrick Bossuyt, Philippe Provoost, David Borremans, and Christine Rampelberg. “Making Antennas for 6G”. In: Fusion of Multidisciplinary Research, An International Journal (FMR) 3.1 (2022), pp. 235–247.

Sean M Theriault. Party polarization in congress. Cambridge University Press, 2008. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511790652

Yotam Shmargad and Samara Klar. “Using Online Experiments to Study Political Decision Making”. In: Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.924

Marc J Hetherington and Jonathan D Weiler. Authoritarianism and polarization in American politics. Cambridge University Press, 2009. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511802331

William Coetzee, Reiner Khumalo, Brendan Le Roux, and Ebrahim Van Wyk. “Sickle Cell Disease: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment”. In: Fusion of Multidisciplinary Research, An International Journal (FMR) 3.1 (2022), pp. 275–286. DOI: https://doi.org/10.63995/KRPR3602

Adam Bonica, Nolan McCarty, Keith T Poole, and Howard Rosenthal. “Why hasn’t democracy slowed rising inequality?” In: Journal of Economic Perspectives 27.3 (2013), pp. 103–124. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.27.3.103

James E Alt and David Dreyer Lassen. “Transparency, political polarization, and political budget cycles in OECD countries”. In: American Journal of Political Science 50.3 (2006), pp. 530–550. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5907.2006.00200.x

Michael Barber, Nolan McCarty, Jane Mansbridge, and Cathie Jo Martin. “Causes and consequences of polarization”. In: Political negotiation: A handbook 37 (2015), pp. 39–43.

Markus Prior. “Media and political polarization”. In: Annual review of political science 16.1 (2013), pp. 101–127. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-100711-135242

Valdemar Johansen, Malthe Rasmussen, and Arne Knudsen. “Dielectric Constants and Their Role in Plasma Simulation”. In: Fusion of Multidisciplinary Research, An International Journal (FMR) 3.1 (2022), pp. 248–260.

Downloads

Published

2023-02-08

How to Cite

Hamza Hussain, Khalid Al Tajir, Rashid Habib, Saiyyad Abboud, & Syed Fadel. (2023). The Effects of Political Polarization on Financial Decision Making. Fusion of Multidisciplinary Research, An International Journal, 4(1), 420-431. https://doi.org/10.63995/SIVB6153