It turns out there is a way to determine how many jobs Mitt Romney helped to create or destroy while running Bain Capital. Unfortunately, we aren't allowed to do it.
A handful of academics – including Harvard's Josh Lerner and the University of Chicago's Steve Davis – last year published a working paper titled Private Equity and Employment. It basically defied conventional wisdom on both sides, arguing that private equity investment only has "a modest net impact on employment."
To arrive at that conclusion, the researchers constructed a dataset that relied on U.S. Census Bureau's Longitudinal Business Database (which is derived from IRS records). It then used Capital IQ and other financial sources to match up the LBD employment records with thousands of private equity transactions. In other words, while Bain Capital and other PE firms didn't keep track of their portfolio payroll data, the government did. And some academics connected the dots.
Unfortunately, it seems that access to the LBD is highly conditional. Lerner and Davis were required to use the data only in the aggregate, promising not to report any identifying information about any specific organization – even if that organization was not specifically included in the LBD (i.e., financial sponsors). In fact, Census and the IRS screen all such working papers before they can be released, in order to make sure no identifying data is disclosed.
And, since neither Lerner nor Davis seems interested in going to jail, we remain unable to specifically determine the jobs record of Bain or any other PE firm.
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The "Bain bomb" is full of wet fuses.
We've been keeping regular track of claims made about Mitt Romney's business history over at our Mitt Meter, but today's video "documentary" from the Gingrich-affiliated Winning Our Future PAC requires its own post. The ominous music, deep-voiced narrator and tales of worker woe were all to be expected. But I also thought that the video would get most of its basic facts correct MORE
Dan Primack - Jan 12, 2012 12:23 PM ET
German bonds yields are below zero, but it may not be so crazy to pay for the privilege of loaning a country money.
FORTUNE – Would you pay someone to give them a loan? That's essentially what's happening in Germany right now -- German short-term bills turned negative earlier this week, meaning investors will not only forgo returns on German debt, they'll actually end up with less money when the bonds MORE
Nin-Hai Tseng, writer-reporter - Jan 12, 2012 10:29 AM ET
* Matching funds: Buffett's new tax challenge
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* Morning Call: U.S. futures point higher, London rises early, European shares climb and the Nikkei dips.
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* Farhad Manjoo: How Microsoft can reclaim its throne in 2012
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* MORE
Dan Primack - Jan 12, 2012 7:14 AM ET
By Mike Brown Jr., contributor
These past two years I've been part of AOL Ventures, a group that has tried to think long and hard about re-envisioning the corporate venture capital model and how corporations should interact with startups.
Who knows if we have the right recipe (talk to our entrepreneurs) but I've had the benefit of synthesizing a ton of information from some of the best minds in the space and MORE
Jan 11, 2012 3:20 PM ET
By Jeff Bussgang, contributor
At the onset of 2012, many start-up executives are sticking their copy of Lean Start-Up on the shelf, leaning back and bemoaning the fact that they have a new set of challenges ahead of them. Although there is a plethora of advice now being given about how to find product-market fit for your fledging start-up, there's a dirty little secret out there: Once you've achieved product-market fit, the hard MORE
Jan 11, 2012 3:05 PM ET
By Antonio Rodriguez, contributor
I used to think that, as with Linux and web services in the early part of last decade, Android was going to be the mortar for the Internet of post-PC devices— an essential ingredient to put stuff together. And unlike Linux which puttered away quietly in the background doing the heavy lifting for services like Amazon and Google, Android was largely user-facing and would therefore benefit from massive platform MORE
Jan 11, 2012 2:55 PM ET
The eurozone's "fiscal compact" won't help the weaker countries grow -- they must cut wages or increase productivity in order to compete.
FORTUNE -- Pundits and politicians are blaming the euro's crisis on profligate nations that violated the budget rules designed as a pillar of the single currency. If Spain, Italy and Greece could shrink their yawning budget deficits and halt the rise in their mountainous debt, the experts argue, prosperity MORE
Shawn Tully, senior editor-at-large - Jan 11, 2012 1:24 PM ET
Foundation Capital makes changes ahead of new fund.
Foundation Capital, a Silicon Valley venture firm focused on IT and cleatech investments, is looking to raise around $500 million for its seventh fund, Fortune has learned.
This is significantly smaller than the $750 million it raised for its sixth fund in early 2008, which perhaps is why the partnership itself may be a bit smaller. Sources say that longtime Foundation general partners Paul Koontz MORE
Dan Primack - Jan 11, 2012 10:55 AM ET
European regulators are expected to block the $9 billion merger between stock exchanges Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext, according to multiple press reports. The exchanges already pushed back their deadline for merger completion from December 31 to March 31, with Deutsche Boerse planning to plead its case directly to college of commissioners.
The New Republic's owners have hired The Blackstone Group to advise on a possible sale of the liberal political magazine, according to the NY Times. www.tnr.com
Raymond MORE
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| Bank of America Corp... | 6.79 | -0.08 | -1.16% |
| Citigroup Inc | 31.60 | 0.33 | 1.06% |
| Microsoft Corp | 28.00 | 0.28 | 1.01% |
| Ford Motor Co | 12.14 | 0.07 | 0.58% |
| Sprint Nextel Corp | 2.32 | 0.02 | 0.87% |
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