Published and accepted papers
The Consequence to Directors for Deploying Poison Pills (with William Johnson and Jonathan Karpoff)
Management Science, Accepted
Featured on the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance
[Internet Appendix]
Corporate Takeover Defenses (with Jonathan Karpoff)
in David J. Denis (ed.), Handbook of Corporate Finance
(Debt) Overhang: Evidence from Resource Extraction
Review of Financial Studies, 34(4), 1699-1746, April 2021
[Published version] [Internet Appendix]
Colorado Finance Summit Best PhD Paper Award (2018)
Crisis Poison Pills (with Ofer Eldar)
Review of Corporate Finance Studies, 10(1), 204-251, March 2021
RCFS Rising Scholar Award (2022)
Solicited by the Editor
Featured on the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance
Selected Media Coverage: RCFS Spotlight Institutional Investor Bloomberg's Money Stuff Race to the Bottom
[Published Version] [Internet Appendix]
Institutional and Legal Context in Natural Experiments: The Case of State Antitakeover Laws (with Jonathan Karpoff)
Journal of Finance, 73(2), 657-714, April 2018.
[Published Version] [Internet Appendix]
Hedging House Price Risk with Futures Contracts after the Bubble Burst (with Patrick Schorno and Steve Swidler)
Finance Research Letters, 11(4), 332-340, December 2014.
[Published Version]
Current working papers
Strategic Learning and Corporate Investment (with Paul Décaire)
Journal of Finance, Revise & Resubmit
[Internet Appendix]
Presentations (* by co-author): Drexel University (2023), Washington University at St. Louis (2023), Bridging Theory and Empirical Research in Finance Conference at Chicago Booth (Finance Theory Group)* (2022), University of Delaware (2022), Cornell University (2022), Virtual Corporate Finance Seminar (2022, Zoom), Clemson University (2022, Zoom), Iowa State University (2022), European Finance Association* (2022), European Economic Association* (2022), NBER Summer Institute Corporate Finance Workshop (2022), Western Finance Association (2022), Frontiers in Finance Conference* (2022), ITAM Finance Conference* (2022), SDU Finance Workshop (2022, Zoom presentation), McGill University* (2022), Asian Bureau of Finance and Economics Research (ABFER) (2022, Zoom presentation), University of Oklahoma Energy and Climate Finance Research Conference (2022), UBC Winter Finance Conference* (2022), European Winter Finance Conference* (2022, Zoom presentation), Colorado Finance Summit (2021), Arizona State University* (2021), FMA Recent Research Session (2021), Ohio State University (2021), CMI Workshop on Firm Finance (2021, Zoom presentation)
Abstract: We show that firms anticipate information spillover from peers' investment decisions and delay project exercise to learn from them. While this information improves project selection, the cost of waiting erodes these gains. To establish causality, we exploit local exogenous variation from the 1800s that shapes the number of peers that a firm can learn from today. The effect is most salient when information is scarce, costs of waiting are low, projects have low expected profitability, and the source information is more relevant. Finally, the anticipation of spillovers dampens aggregate investment, suggesting a role for this mechanism in macro-investment models.
Resolving Estimation Uncertainty (with Paul Décaire and Denis Sosyura)
Presentations (* by co-author): American Finance Association (2025, Scheduled), SFS Cavalcade North America at Georgia State University (2024), Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research* (ABFER) (2024), University of Maryland Finance Conference (2024), Ohio State University (2024, Scheduled), Arizona State University* (2024)
Abstract: Economic models develop conceptual frameworks for fundamental decisions but rarely prescribe a specific estimation approach. Using novel data on the inputs and assumptions in professional stock valuations, we study how financial analysts address estimation uncertainty when calculating a firm’s cost of capital. Analysts use the same return-generating model (CAPM) but diverge in their estimation choices for key inputs, such as equity betas. Such estimation choices are driven by idiosyncratic analyst-specific criteria, persist throughout their career and across brokerages, and generate large cross-analyst variation in discount rates for the same stock. The dispersion in discount rates is associated with higher market measures of investor disagreement, such as trading volume. Overall, we provide micro evidence on how financial experts resolve estimation uncertainty.
The Rise of Anti-Activist Poison Pills (with Ofer Eldar and Tanja Kirmse)
ALEA Best Paper in Corporate Law and Governance Award (2023)
Presentations (* by co-author): NBER Summer Institute Corporate Finance Workshop (2024), Western Finance Association (2023), ECGI Global Corporate Governance Colloquium (2023), American Law & Economics Association (2023), SFS Cavalcade North America at UT Austin (2023), University of Cambridge Judge* (2023), Columbia Law School* (2023), Vanderbilt Law School* (2023), University of Texas Law School* (2023), Duke University Fuqua (2023), Australasian Finance and Banking Conference (2022), Conference on Empirical Legal Studies at University of Virginia* (2022), University of California Berkeley School of Law* (2022), Tel Aviv Buchmann Faculty of Law* (2022), Drexel Corporate Governance Conference Early Ideas Session (2022)
Abstract: We create a novel dataset of the terms of poison pill plans to examine their prevalence over time. Consistent with the hypothesis that poison pills have responded to the increase in hedge fund activism, recent adoptions have characteristics and provisions that appear to target hedge funds, such as low trigger thresholds. Moreover, using unique data on activist hedge fund views of SEC filings as a proxy for the mere threat of an activist intervention, we show that hedge fund interest strongly predicts pill adoption. Finally, the likelihood of a 13D filing declines after firms adopt "anti-activist" pills. Our analysis has implications for understanding the modern dynamics of market discipline of managers in public corporations, and evaluating policies that regulate defensive tactics.
Production and Externalities: The Role of Ownership Structure (with Alvin Chen) (draft coming soon)
WRDS Best Paper Award at the Drexel Corporate Governance Conference (2024)
Presentations (* by co-author): Temple University (2024, Scheduled), Drexel Corporate Governance Conference (2024), Midwest Finance Association (2024), Boston College (2023), University of Iowa (2023), University of Wisconsin Madison Junior Finance Conference (2023), Finance Theory Group Summer School (2023)
Abstract: We show that ownership structure plays an important role in firms' generation of negative externalities. Our framework highlights two complementary forces that result in socially costly production following the diffusion of ownership. First, the increased cost of monitoring results in a substitution towards higher-powered incentives, which also encourage more socially costly production. Second, reduced trading frictions potentially shift ownership towards investors who internalize less of the firm's externalities. Using asset-level data in the coal industry, we confirm that production increases and workplace safety deteriorates when ownership dispersion increases, primarily when alternative governance mechanisms are weak and when more ownership reallocates.
Works in progress
How Do Firms Choose Project Discount Rates? (with Hoa Briscoe-Tran and René Stulz)
Intragroup Agency and the Insulating Power of Classified Boards (with Dhruv Aggarwal, Jonathan Karpoff and Lubomir Litov)
Non-finance publications and permanent working papers
Analyzing the Perceived Benefits of LEED-Certified and Energy Star-Certified Buildings in the Realm of Local Economic Development (with Dustin Read and Suzanne Leland),
Economic Development Quarterly, 29(4), 363-375, May 2015.
Is Public Equity Deadly? Evidence from Workplace Safety and Productivity Tradeoffs in the Coal Industry (with Erik Gilje)
Featured on the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance
[NBER Working Paper] [Internet Appendix] [Presentation Video]
Published and accepted papers
The Consequence to Directors for Deploying Poison Pills (with William Johnson and Jonathan Karpoff)
Management Science, Accepted
Featured on the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance
[Internet Appendix]
Corporate Takeover Defenses (with Jonathan Karpoff)
in David J. Denis (ed.), Handbook of Corporate Finance
(Debt) Overhang: Evidence from Resource Extraction
Review of Financial Studies, 34(4), 1699-1746, April 2021
[Published version] [Internet Appendix]
Colorado Finance Summit Best PhD Paper Award (2018)
Crisis Poison Pills (with Ofer Eldar)
Review of Corporate Finance Studies, 10(1), 204-251, March 2021
RCFS Rising Scholar Award (2022)
Solicited by the Editor
Featured on the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance
Selected Media Coverage: RCFS Spotlight Institutional Investor Bloomberg's Money Stuff Race to the Bottom
[Published Version] [Internet Appendix]
Institutional and Legal Context in Natural Experiments: The Case of State Antitakeover Laws (with Jonathan Karpoff)
Journal of Finance, 73(2), 657-714, April 2018.
[Published Version] [Internet Appendix]
Hedging House Price Risk with Futures Contracts after the Bubble Burst (with Patrick Schorno and Steve Swidler)
Finance Research Letters, 11(4), 332-340, December 2014.
[Published Version]
Current working papers
Strategic Learning and Corporate Investment (with Paul Décaire)
Journal of Finance, Revise & Resubmit
[Internet Appendix]
Presentations (* by co-author): Drexel University (2023), Washington University at St. Louis (2023), Bridging Theory and Empirical Research in Finance Conference at Chicago Booth (Finance Theory Group)* (2022), University of Delaware (2022), Cornell University (2022), Virtual Corporate Finance Seminar (2022, Zoom), Clemson University (2022, Zoom), Iowa State University (2022), European Finance Association* (2022), European Economic Association* (2022), NBER Summer Institute Corporate Finance Workshop (2022), Western Finance Association (2022), Frontiers in Finance Conference* (2022), ITAM Finance Conference* (2022), SDU Finance Workshop (2022, Zoom presentation), McGill University* (2022), Asian Bureau of Finance and Economics Research (ABFER) (2022, Zoom presentation), University of Oklahoma Energy and Climate Finance Research Conference (2022), UBC Winter Finance Conference* (2022), European Winter Finance Conference* (2022, Zoom presentation), Colorado Finance Summit (2021), Arizona State University* (2021), FMA Recent Research Session (2021), Ohio State University (2021), CMI Workshop on Firm Finance (2021, Zoom presentation)
Abstract: We show that firms anticipate information spillover from peers' investment decisions and delay project exercise to learn from them. While this information improves project selection, the cost of waiting erodes these gains. To establish causality, we exploit local exogenous variation from the 1800s that shapes the number of peers that a firm can learn from today. The effect is most salient when information is scarce, costs of waiting are low, projects have low expected profitability, and the source information is more relevant. Finally, the anticipation of spillovers dampens aggregate investment, suggesting a role for this mechanism in macro-investment models.
Resolving Estimation Uncertainty (with Paul Décaire and Denis Sosyura)
Presentations (* by co-author): American Finance Association (2025, Scheduled), SFS Cavalcade North America at Georgia State University (2024), Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research* (ABFER) (2024), University of Maryland Finance Conference (2024), Ohio State University (2024, Scheduled), Arizona State University* (2024)
Abstract: Economic models develop conceptual frameworks for fundamental decisions but rarely prescribe a specific estimation approach. Using novel data on the inputs and assumptions in professional stock valuations, we study how financial analysts address estimation uncertainty when calculating a firm’s cost of capital. Analysts use the same return-generating model (CAPM) but diverge in their estimation choices for key inputs, such as equity betas. Such estimation choices are driven by idiosyncratic analyst-specific criteria, persist throughout their career and across brokerages, and generate large cross-analyst variation in discount rates for the same stock. The dispersion in discount rates is associated with higher market measures of investor disagreement, such as trading volume. Overall, we provide micro evidence on how financial experts resolve estimation uncertainty.
The Rise of Anti-Activist Poison Pills (with Ofer Eldar and Tanja Kirmse)
ALEA Best Paper in Corporate Law and Governance Award (2023)
Presentations (* by co-author): NBER Summer Institute Corporate Finance Workshop (2024), Western Finance Association (2023), ECGI Global Corporate Governance Colloquium (2023), American Law & Economics Association (2023), SFS Cavalcade North America at UT Austin (2023), University of Cambridge Judge* (2023), Columbia Law School* (2023), Vanderbilt Law School* (2023), University of Texas Law School* (2023), Duke University Fuqua (2023), Australasian Finance and Banking Conference (2022), Conference on Empirical Legal Studies at University of Virginia* (2022), University of California Berkeley School of Law* (2022), Tel Aviv Buchmann Faculty of Law* (2022), Drexel Corporate Governance Conference Early Ideas Session (2022)
Abstract: We create a novel dataset of the terms of poison pill plans to examine their prevalence over time. Consistent with the hypothesis that poison pills have responded to the increase in hedge fund activism, recent adoptions have characteristics and provisions that appear to target hedge funds, such as low trigger thresholds. Moreover, using unique data on activist hedge fund views of SEC filings as a proxy for the mere threat of an activist intervention, we show that hedge fund interest strongly predicts pill adoption. Finally, the likelihood of a 13D filing declines after firms adopt "anti-activist" pills. Our analysis has implications for understanding the modern dynamics of market discipline of managers in public corporations, and evaluating policies that regulate defensive tactics.
Production and Externalities: The Role of Ownership Structure (with Alvin Chen) (draft coming soon)
WRDS Best Paper Award at the Drexel Corporate Governance Conference (2024)
Presentations (* by co-author): Temple University (2024, Scheduled), Drexel Corporate Governance Conference (2024), Midwest Finance Association (2024), Boston College (2023), University of Iowa (2023), University of Wisconsin Madison Junior Finance Conference (2023), Finance Theory Group Summer School (2023)
Abstract: We show that ownership structure plays an important role in firms' generation of negative externalities. Our framework highlights two complementary forces that result in socially costly production following the diffusion of ownership. First, the increased cost of monitoring results in a substitution towards higher-powered incentives, which also encourage more socially costly production. Second, reduced trading frictions potentially shift ownership towards investors who internalize less of the firm's externalities. Using asset-level data in the coal industry, we confirm that production increases and workplace safety deteriorates when ownership dispersion increases, primarily when alternative governance mechanisms are weak and when more ownership reallocates.
Works in progress
How Do Firms Choose Project Discount Rates? (with Hoa Briscoe-Tran and René Stulz)
Intragroup Agency and the Insulating Power of Classified Boards (with Dhruv Aggarwal, Jonathan Karpoff and Lubomir Litov)
Non-finance publications and permanent working papers
Analyzing the Perceived Benefits of LEED-Certified and Energy Star-Certified Buildings in the Realm of Local Economic Development (with Dustin Read and Suzanne Leland),
Economic Development Quarterly, 29(4), 363-375, May 2015.
Is Public Equity Deadly? Evidence from Workplace Safety and Productivity Tradeoffs in the Coal Industry (with Erik Gilje)
Featured on the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance
[NBER Working Paper] [Internet Appendix] [Presentation Video]