Research Interests

Corporate Finance
Behavioral Economics, Behavioral Finance
Economics of Organizations, Contract Theory
Law and Economics, Law and Finance

Publications and Forthcoming Papers

1. Roman Law and the Law-and-Finance Debate.
   Forthcoming in: Festschrift Knuetel. Boehlau Verlag, 2009.
2. Contractibility and the Design of Research Agreements (with J. Lerner).
   Online Appendix
   American Economic Review, March 2010, vol. 100(1).
3. Superstar CEOs (with G. Tate).
   Online Appendix
   Quarterly Journal of Economics, November 2009, vol. 124(4), pp. 1593 ff.
4. Law and Finance at the Origin.
   Journal of Economic Literature, December 2009, vol. 47(4).
5. Who Makes Acquisitions? CEO Overconfidence and the Market's Reaction (with G. Tate).
   Journal of Financial Economics, July 2008, vol. 89(1), pp. 20-43.

6. Financial Expertise of Directors (with B. Guner and G. Tate).
   Journal of Financial Economics, May 2008, vol. 88(2), pp. 323-354.

7. Are Small Investors Naive about Incentives? (with D. Shanthikumar).
   Journal of Financial Economics, August 2007, vol. 85 (2), pp. 457-489.

8. Behavioral Economics of Organizations (with C. Camerer).
   In: P. Diamond and H. Vartiainen (eds.), Behavioral Economics and Its Applications, Princeton University Press, March 2007.

9. Paying Not to Go to the Gym (with S. DellaVigna).
   American Economic Review, June 2006, vol. 96 (3), pp. 694-719.
   (Older version with extensive model: Stanford GSB Research Paper 1880. October 2002.)

10. CEO Overconfidence and Corporate Investment (with G. Tate).
    Journal of Finance, December 2005, vol. 60 (6), pp. 2661-2700.

11. Does Overconfidence Affect Corporate Investment? CEO Overconfidence Measures Revisited (with G. Tate). European Financial Management, November 2005, vol. 11 (5), pp. 649-659.

12. Roman Shares.
    In: W. Goetzmann and G. Rouwenhorst (eds.), The Origins of Value. The Financial Innovations that Created Modern Capital Markets. Oxford University Press, August 2005, pp. 31-42, 361-365.

13. Contract Design and Self-Control: Theory and Evidence (with S. DellaVigna).
    Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 2004, vol. 119 (2), pp. 353-402. (Lead article.)

14. Societas publicanorum.
    Böhlau Verlag, Cologne/Vienna 2002, ca. 353 pages, ISDN 3-412-12201-7. 

15. The Origins of the Corporation in Ancient Rome.
    (Book in preparation for publication at Yale University Press.) 

16. De foeminis iuris prudentia inbutis (with R. Knütel).
    In: Wolfgang Schön (ed.), Gedächtnisschrift für Knobbe-Keuk, Cologne 1997, pp. 861-877.

Working Papers

1. The Bidder's Curse (with H. Lee). October 2009.
   Online Appendix
   Revise and resubmit at the American Economic Review.
2. Depression Babies: Do Macroeconomic Experiences Affect Risk-Taking? (with S. Nagel), May 2009.
   Revise and resubmit at the Quarterly Journal of Economics.
3. Do Security Analysts Speak in Two Tongues? (with D. Shanthikumar). August 2009.
   Revise and resubmit at the Review of Financial Studies.
4. Sorting and Social Preferences (with E. Lazear and R. Weber). June 2009
   Online Appendix
5. Corporate Financial Policies with Overconfident Managers (with G. Tate and J. Yan). November 2007. NBER Working Paper 13570
6. Winning by Losing: Evidence on Overbidding in Mergers (with E. Moretti), December 2006. Manuscript.
7. With a Little Help from My (Random) Friends: Success and Failure in Post-Business School Entrepreneurship (with J. Lerner), December 2007. Manuscript.
8. Fishing for Fools (with A. Szeidl), June 2008. Manuscript.
9. Learning from Inflation Experiences (with S. Nagel), December 2008. Manuscript.
10. Testing for Altruism and Social Pressure in Charitable Giving (with S. DellaVigna and J. List), May 2009. Manuscript.