Many policymakers and practitioners argue that corporations may become more stakeholder focused if employees are given more power. We study the causal impact of unionization on stakeholders by analyzing how close labor union elections affect environmental and social (E&S) scores. We find that unionization is associated with an increase in internal social scores that primarily benefit employees and a decrease in external E&S scores that primarily benefit non-employees. The negative effects on external E&S are amplified when firms have greater financial constraints. The effects on both internal and external E&S are magnified when labor unions have more bargaining power. Our results suggest that policymakers consider implications for all stakeholders before implementing policies that prioritize the corporate influence of one stakeholder group.

Analyzing 48 foreign exchange (FX) rates and 1.2 million FX-related news articles over a 35-year period, using digital textual analysis, we find that a currency reversal investment strategy that buys (sells) currencies with low (high) media sentiment offers strong positive and statistically significant returns and Sharpe ratios. The results are robust and the strategy adds value over other currency premia determinants. Analysts’ forecasts systematically mispredict the reversal strategy. This is the first article to show that price reversals based on media sentiment are a well-defined feature of the FX market.