By Asaf Eckstein, Ziv Granov & Ariel Shillo.
Policymakers and academics have extensively debated the extent and the nature of the revolving door phenomenon; however, the discussion still remains largely binary, treating the revolving door as a single undifferentiated practice. This Article aims to reconcile these different viewpoints by showing that not all interchange is the same. Based on a comprehensive, hand-collected analysis of 6,430 directors and executive officers serving current S&P 500 companies, we argue that the revolving doors are context-dependent—meaning their extent and nature vary based on the circumstances—and that regulation and discourse surrounding the phenomenon should be adapted accordingly. Finally, we offer a novel framework for contextualizing the regulatory approach to the revolving doors.