A growing literature finds high returns to firms connected to legislative office. Less attention has been paid to benefits from bureaucratic connections and to organizations beyond for-profit firms. Using new data recording the first post-bureaucracy position occupied by all former civil servants in Japan, Incerti reveals a bifurcated job market in which the highest-ranking civil servants from the most prestigious ministries retire into for-profit firms while others join non-profit and public organizations. Incerti will show that for-profit firms receive larger government loans and stock price boosts following bureaucratic hires, and that these effects are driven by hires from prestigious economic ministries. Incerti will also show that non-profits leverage their bureaucratic hires by receiving higher value contracts in periods when former officials are in director positions at the organization. While top civil servants are therefore of value to for-profit firms, others find post bureaucracy employment in non-profits supported by government funding.

This event is part of APARC's Contemporary Asia Seminar Series.

Trevor Incerti is an Assistant Professor of Political Economy in the Department of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam and Visiting Assistant Professor in Modern and Contemporary Japanese Politics at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service Asian Studies Program. Incerti’s main area of research is in comparative political economy, with a focus on the role of money in politics and business influence in politics. Additionally, his research explores how economic stimuli shape political behavior and preferences. Much of his work focuses on East Asia, particularly Japan. He also conducts research in quantitative methods, where he is particularly interested in the reliability and validity of measurement strategies. Incerti’s research is published in the American Journal of Political Science, American Political Science Review, British Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, and Political Analysis, among other outlets. Incerti received his Ph.D. from Yale University and B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley. He is also an Expert at the Leiden Asia Centre and was previously a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. Prior to academia, he worked in data science and economic consulting.