Max Kagan

Postdoctoral Research Scholar in Management
Columbia Business School

How do businesses navigate rising political polarization?

My research examines how the political beliefs and partisanship of employees, customers, and other stakeholders affect firm strategy and performance, and how firms, in turn, shape political outcomes. I use causal inference methods and large-scale administrative data, including a novel dataset linking voter registrations to tens of millions of U.S. workers.

I contribute to research on non-market strategy, corporate political activity, and human capital, with a focus on partisan diversity in the workplace, employee responses to corporate political stances, and firm-driven political mobilization.

I received my Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to graduate school, I worked at McKinsey & Company in Dubai and New York, in private equity, and at the Good Jobs Institute.