Research | Finance | Fox School of Business | Temple University

Overview

Faculty in the Finance Department at the Fox School are engaged in research that covers a broad spectrum of topics including corporate governance, the effect of regulation on firms and markets, risk and its effect on asset valuations, and residential and commercial real estate markets. Faculty research regularly appears in the top finance, economics, accounting, and management journals such as the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Accounting and Economics, and Management Science. The department continues to build a strong research foundation by recruiting promising faculty members from top-ranked national and international finance and economic programs.

Impact

The Finance department’s research seeks to inform and educate investors, regulators, and other financial market participants on a broad range of issues that have a direct impact on firm value. Much of the research within the Finance Department is focused on understanding how to resolve the agency problem with the firm. In its simplest form, agency theory proposes that the firm’s owners or principals hire managers (agents) and then delegate the firm’s day-to-day operating decisions to these managers. This separation of ownership and management creates a conflict of interest within the firm as managers seek to maximize their personal welfare at the expense of that of the shareholders. Finance faculty produce research which impacts industry by examining how corporate governance mechanisms can be used effectively to mitigate such conflicts of interest. Specifically, research work focuses on how corporate boards, compensation systems, equity-ownership structures, and activist shareholders help align the incentives of managers with those of shareholders.

Themes – The Global Impact of Fox School Research

Research is a top priority at the Fox School. Faculty and students across departments regularly make unique contributions that impact the academic world and the global business community, as well as society as a whole. Learn more about the important work done at Fox by exploring the following research themes.

Law and Financial Institutions: The intersection between corporations, financial institutions, private and public regulators, and the government has become increasingly large and more important since the financial crisis. The influence and effects of this intersection have proven to be, and will likely continue to be, an important and interesting area of research.

The separation of ownership and control (manager-shareholder issues and shareholder-shareholder issues) has been and will continue to be an important research area for scholars; faculty are actively engaged in research on governance topics such as the impact of family ownership and control on firm performance, the effect of board structure on firm performance and firm value, and the effect of CEO compensation structure on firm risk-taking, and the effects of country governance and culture on the firm.

Different types of risk affect investors uniquely, and should consequently command different risk premia. Estimating these premia has important implications not only for finance, but macroeconomics more generally. Many recent advances in econometric and statistical techniques have provided new, robust testing methods.

Real estate research and centers have, and will continue to be, an important route for departments and business schools to become integrated into the local and regional markets. The Finance Department has a strong presence in real estate research, with specific topics such as mortgage choice, zoning and land use regulation, and real estate asset pricing.

Sample Publications

Coles, J., Daniel, N., and Naveen, L. “Co-opted Boards,” Review of Financial Studies (27:6), 2014, pp. 1751-1796.

Goldstein, I., Li, Yan, and Yang, L. “Speculation and Hedging in Segmented Markets,” Review of Financial Studies (27:3), 2014, pp. 881-922.

Rytchkov, O. “Asset Pricing with Dynamic Margin Constraints,” Journal of Finance (69:1), 2014, pp. 405-452.

Savor, P., and Roussanov, N. “Marriage and Managers’ Attitudes to Risk,” Management Science, 2014.

Savor, P., and Wilson, M. “Asset Pricing: A Tale of Two Days,” Journal of Financial Economics (113), 2014, pp. 171-201.

Li, Yuanzhi. “A Nonlinear Wealth Transfer from Shareholders to Creditors around Chapter 11 Filings,” Journal of Financial Economics (107:1), 2013, pp. 183-198.

Li, Yan, Ng, D., and Swaminathan, B. “Predicting Market Returns Using Aggregate Implied Cost of Capital,” Journal of Financial Economics (110:2), 2013, pp. 419-436.

Li, Yan, and Yang, L. “Prospect Theory, the Disposition Effect and Asset Prices,” Journal of Financial Economics (107:3), 2013, pp. 715-739.

Li, Yan, and Yang, L. “The Asset-Pricing Implications of Dividend Volatility,” Management Science (59:9), 2013, pp. 2036-2055.

Anderson, R.,⁺ Reeb, D., and Zhao, W. “Family Controlled Firms and Informed Trading: Evidence from Short Sales,” Journal of Finance (67:1), 2012, pp. 351-386.

Savor, P., and Wilson, M. “Stock Returns after Major Price Shocks: The Impact of Information,” Journal of Financial Economics (106), 2012, pp. 635-659.

Cheng, J., Elyasiani, E., and Jia, J. “Institutional Ownership Stability and Risk Taking: Evidence from the Life-Health Insurance Industry,” Journal of Risk and Insurance (78:3), 2011, pp. 609-641.

Cheng, J., Elyasiani, E., and Lin, T. “Market Reaction to Regulatory Action in the Insurance Industry: The Case of Contingent Commission,” Journal of Risk and Insurance (77:2), 2010, pp. 347-368.