U.S. presidential election polls and the economic prospects of China and Mexico

Originally published in Applied Economics, Volume 53, 2021 - Issue 54 on Taylor & Francis

ABSTRACT

Motivated by Mr. Trump’s agendas against China and Mexico, we investigate how a candidate’s probability of winning the U.S. presidential election affects the international financial markets that are related to these countries. Unexpected increases in Trump’s probability of winning the 2020 election generate significantly negative long-term effects on their home currency and the stock prices, while the default probability responds significantly positively in the long run. Similar responses, though in the short run, were observed when Mr. Biden’s probability of winning increases, which tends to dissipate quickly over time. The responses to the Biden shock resemble those to the Trump shock during the 2016 election, implying that the probability shock of the new entrant candidate creates short-run disturbances in the financial market, whereas the probability shock of the incumbent candidate such as Trump in 2020 or Clinton in 2016 helps stabilize financial markets in the short run.