Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/282436 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 10748
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
We study the stock market performance of firms with Jewish board members during the "Dreyfus Affair" in 19th century France. In a context of widespread latent antisemitism, initial accusations made against the Jewish officer Alfred Dreyfus led to short-lived abnormal negative returns for Jewish-connected firms. However, investors betting on these firms earned higher returns during the period corresponding to Dreyfus' rehabilitation, starting with the publication of the famous op-ed J'Accuse! in 1898. Our conceptual framework illustrates how diminishing antisemitic biases among investors might plausibly explain these effects. Our paper provides novel insights on how antisemitism can increase and decrease over short periods of time at the highest socio-economic levels in response to certain events, which in turn can affect firm value in financial markets.
Subjects: 
antisemitism
financial markets
discrimination
JEL: 
J15
J71
N23
G14
G41
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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