Welcome!
I am an Assistant Professor of Finance at the Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam. I am also a Candidate Fellow at the Tinbergen Institute.
My research interests are empirical corporate finance, bankruptcy and financial distress, and entrepreneurship. I obtained my PhD at the Department of Finance, Copenhagen Business School (CBS).
Working papers
Post-Bankruptcy Wealth and Serial Entrepreneurship [Link]
Abstract: I examine whether greater personal wealth helps failed entrepreneurs return to business, and which of them it helps. Exploiting inheritances received after personal bankruptcy in Denmark as plausibly exogenous variation in post-bankruptcy wealth, I find that, on average, the entrepreneurial response to these windfalls is positive but imprecisely estimated. The response is stronger among entrepreneurs who did not experience negative entrepreneurial income before bankruptcy and those with a smaller share of personal debt arising from business activity. This pattern is consistent with the experience of severe personal financial losses weakening the response to greater wealth.
- Award: Financial News & KAFA Doctoral Student Dissertation Award
- Presentations: Erasmus University Rotterdam, NYU Stern, American Law and Economics Association Annual Meeting, Young Scholars Nordic Finance Workshop, Durham Conference for Finance Job Market Papers, FMA Asia/Pacific Conference, FMA Annual Meeting (Doctoral Student Consortium), Conference on Empirical Legal Studies, Boca-ECGI Corporate Finance and Governance Conference, Paris December Finance Meeting, MFA Annual Meeting, GEIRC
Biased Judges? Judge Characteristics and Bankruptcy Outcomes [Link], Submitted
Abstract: Using random assignment of judges, I study the effect of judge characteristics on bankruptcy outcomes of large U.S. public firms. Firms are more likely to emerge from bankruptcy under judges who grew up during the Great Depression (Depression-baby judges) and under Democratic judges, and less likely under economics-trained judges and judges who grew up in the firm’s headquarters state. Firms whose cases are expected to be protracted spend less time in bankruptcy under Depression-baby and economics-trained judges, suggesting differences in case management across judges. I find no statistically significant relation between judge characteristics and post-emergence outcomes.
- Award: Best Dissertation Award at Conference on Asia-Pacific Financial Markets (2022)
- Presentations: Copenhagen Business School, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, MFA Annual Meeting, AsianFA Annual Conference, Finance Forum, FMA European Conference, Annual Conference of the European Association of Law and Economics, FMA Annual Meeting
Work in progress
Bankruptcy Quarantines, with S. Lakshmi Naaraayanan and Kasper Meisner Nielsen
Abstract: This study examines the introduction of bankruptcy quarantines that disqualifies managers engaging in negligent business practices for up to 3 years. Using administrative register data from Denmark, we document that quarantines discourage future business activity: After the quarantine, individuals are less likely to be managers or business owners. Quarantined individuals are also less likely to be involved in future bankruptcies or future criminal activities. The declining activity of quarantined managers is partially offset by spouses and children becoming more active as managers and owners, reducing the effect of quarantines at the household level. We also document changes to the managerial labor pool, resulting in fewer CEOs with multiple bankruptcies and multiple white-collar crime convictions, and an increasing tendency to appoint strawmen managers, proxied by individuals on public transfers. Overall, our findings provide the first systematic evidence on consequences of bankruptcy quarantines.
- Presentations: Stockholm School of Economics (accounting), Wharton-Chicago-Harvard Insolvency & Restructuring Conference, Boca-ECGI Corporate Finance and Governance Conference, Conference on Empirical Legal Studies, CICF, GEIRC, Financial Fraud, Misconduct and Market Manipulation Conference, FMA Annual Meeting
First name pronunciation
- similar to "dong hee-uhn". Play sound below.
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