A long controversial issue that divides academics, government officials, elected representatives, and the U.S. defense industry is whether defense contractors earn abnormal or excessive profits at the expense of taxpayers. Using an innovative industry-year-size matched measure of excessive...

Despite fast-growing interest in research on political connections , most papers on this topic belong to the economics or public administration fields. Few studies, if any, look into the role of firmsʼ political connections in the Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition area. This paper...