Members of the House of Representatives considerably outperform the stock market in their personal investments, according to a new academic study.

Four university researchers examined 16, common stock transactions made by approximately House representatives from toand found what they call "significant positive abnormal returns," with portfolios based on congressional trades beating the market by about 6 percent annually.

The report speculates, but does not conclude, it could have something to do with the ability members of Congress have to trade on non-public information or to vote their own pocketbooks -- or both. A study of senators by the same team of researchers five years ago found members of the higher chamber even better at beating the market -- outperforming it by about 10 percent, an amount the academics said was "both economically large and statistically significant.

The researchers, Alan J. Ziobrowski of Georgia State University, James W. Boyd of Lindenwood University, Ping Cheng of Florida Atlantic University and Brigitte J.

Ziobrowski of Augusta State University, noted that the circumstances are ripe for abuse. If used as the basis for common stock transactions, such information could yield significant personal trading profits," they wrote.

At the same time, House rules don't require them to divest themselves of common stocks when they assume office, don't prevent them from trading freely while in office -- and don't require them to recuse themselves from votes that could affect their own interests. The House ethics manual clearly states that "all Members, officers, and employees are prohibited from improperly using their official positions for personal gain" and members must disclose their holdings annually.

But the House's official position is that demanding that members either divest themselves of potential conflicts or recuse themselves when there is a conflict is "impractical or unreasonable" because it "could result in the disenfranchisement of a Member's entire constituency on particular issues. Ever sincea small coterie of Democrats has been trying to officially prohibit members of Congress and their staffs from using non-public information to enrich their personal portfolios.

The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge STOCK Act was most recently re-introduced in March by Reps.

It has not been heard from since. And representatives with the least seniority considerably outperformed those with more seniority. Why would that be? The researchers suspect need had something to do with it. The report does not make any firm conclusions on causality, although the researchers explain that their kind of "event analysis" has become a common "method for analyzing whether actors have profited from confidential information in what happens to stock options if you get laid off possession.

Dan Froomkin is senior Washington correspondent for The Huffington Post. Do you have information you want to share with HuffPost? We tell big stories on difficult subjects.

Abnormal stock returns for members of the U.S. House of Representatives - Journalist's Resource

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