Publications

We develop a model of financial crises with both a financial amplification mechanism, via frictional intermediation, and a role for sentiment, via time-varying beliefs about an illiquidity state. We confront the model with data on credit spreads…

Early empirical evidence showed a lack of relative performance evaluation (RPE) for executive pay, a surprise given its theoretical appeal. We hypothesize that executive pay transparency can enhance the monitoring of pay practices and increase…

We analyze the behavior of credit and output in financial crises using data on credit spreads and credit growth. Crises are marked by a sharp rise in credit spreads, signaling sudden shifts in expectations. The severity of a crisis can be…

I show that investor composition affects bond price dynamics and capital allocation during crises. Using large-scale holdings data and within-firm ownership variation across near-identical bonds, I causally identify bond returns’ investor…

We empirically characterize how China is internationalizing its bond market by staggering the entry of different types of foreign investors into its domestic market and propose a dynamic reputation model to explain this strategy. Our framework…

What if “old wine in new bottles” is actually the secret to game-­changing innovation? The authors explore what they call precedents thinking, illustrating how radical breakthroughs such as Henry Ford’s assembly line and Reed Hastings’s…

Motivated by the disconnect between regulatory discussions and industry reports on voluntary sustainability investments, we examine the market equilibrium for sustainable products in the absence of regulation, focusing on firms’ strategic…

We examine if the effectiveness of business tax subsidies varies based on state disclosure laws. The prior accounting literature on government disclosure documents substantial variation in the quality of such disclosures, raising questions about…

Artificial intelligence has the potential to significantly transform boardroom practices — but perhaps in different ways than is commonly recognized. Four areas in particular are poised for impact, including how boards function, how boards…

For globally systemically important banks (GSIBs) with US headquarters, we find significant reductions in market-implied probabilities of government bailout after the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), along with roughly 170% higher wholesale debt…

Research on culture and personality has greatly enhanced personality science by bringing attention to the bidirectional processes by which socio-cultural factors shape personality and individuals in turn shape their social environments to fit and…

Ambition, an individual trait that we show to be empirically distinct from the Big Five dimensions of personality, has been under theorized and researched as an important determinant of both career success and unethical behavior. We…

As political issues have increased in complexity, public opinion researchers increasingly ask respondents about sophisticated political topics that may require substantive knowledge and analytic skills, raising concerns about survey satisficing.…

Corporate credit lines are drawn more heavily when funding markets are more stressed. This covariance elevates expected bank funding costs. We show that credit supply is inefficiently dampened by the associated debt-overhang cost to bank…

We study the extent to which creditors shape the executive bonus plans of their financially distressed borrowers. Financial distress can exacerbate agency conflicts between creditors and borrowers as concerns with underinvestment become more…

How can we build trust, especially in polarized societies? We propose that exposure to broad financial markets—where individuals place their assets in the hands of large groups of unfamiliar agents who nonetheless have the incentive and ability…

We analyze survey data on ESG beliefs and preferences in a large panel of retail investors linked to administrative data on their investment portfolios. The survey elicits investors’ expectations of long-term ESG equity returns and asks about…

We examine whether access to specialized business courts that are more proficient in resolving contractual disputes influences the design of firms’ supply contracts. We use the staggered creation of these courts in different states at different…

Regression discontinuity designs assess causal effects in settings where treatment is determined by whether an observed running variable crosses a prespecified threshold. Here, we propose a new approach to identification, estimation and inference…

The Federal Reserve’s “balance-sheet normalization,” which reduced aggregate reserves between 2017 and September 2019, increased repo rate distortions, the severity of rate spikes, and intraday payment timing stresses, culminating with a…