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Companies see up to 700% return on political investments
February 25, 2026
Accounting professor Adam Olson recently published a study in the journal of Accounting, Organizations and Society called, “The effect of political connections on COVID-19 stimulus.” Using the COVID-19 stimulus checks as reference, his team looked at how much benefit companies got if they donated to certain PACs. This dataset was a new opportunity to measure direct impact, as usually benefits from donations take the form of tax breaks or new laws down the road, not a direct deposit of cash.