Research Interests

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

Publications and Forthcoming Papers

1. Testing for Altruism and Social Pressure in Charitable Giving (with S. DellaVigna and J. List).
   Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 2012, 127 (1), pp. 1-56. (Lead article.).
2. Sorting in Experiments with Application to Social Preferences (with E. Lazear and R. Weber).
   American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, January 2012, vol 4(1), pp.136-163.
   Extended version with further experimental results in "Sorting, Prices, and Social Preferences", NBER Working Paper 12041.
3. Societas
   Forthcoming in: R. Bagnall, K. Brodersen, C. Champion, A. Erskine, and S. Hübner (eds),
   Encyclopedia of Ancient History, Wiley-Blackwell Press, January 2012.
4. Publicani
   Forthcoming in: R. Bagnall, K. Brodersen, C. Champion, A. Erskine, and S. Hübner (eds),
   Encyclopedia of Ancient History, Wiley-Blackwell Press, January 2012.
5. Review of Peter Fibinger Bank, The Roman bazaar. A comparative study of trade and markets in a tributary empire, EH.net (Economic History Association), October 2011.
   
6. Overconfidence and Early-life Experiences: The Effect of Managerial Traits on Corporate Financial Policies (with G. Tate and J. Yan).
   Online Appendix
   Journal of Finance, October 2011, vol. 66(5).
7. The Role of Theory in Field Experiments (with D. Card and S. DellaVigna).
   Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 2011, vol 24(3).
8. The Bidder's Curse (with H. Lee).
   Online Appendix
   American Economic Review, April 2011, vol. 101(2), pp. 749-787.
9. Depression Babies: Do Macroeconomic Experiences Affect Risk-Taking? (with S. Nagel).
   Online Appendix
   Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 2011, vol. 126(1), pp. 373-416.
10. Contractibility and the Design of Research Agreements (with J. Lerner).
    Online Appendix
    American Economic Review, March 2010, vol. 100(1), pp. 214-246.
11. Roman Law and the Law-and-Finance Debate.
    In: I. Reichard and M. Schermaier (eds.), Festschrift fuer Rolf Knuetel. Boehlau Verlag, January 2010.
12. Law and Finance at the Origin.
    Journal of Economic Literature, December 2009, vol. 47(4), pp. 1076-1108.
13. Superstar CEOs (with G. Tate).
    Online Appendix
    Quarterly Journal of Economics, November 2009, vol. 124(4), pp. 1593-1638.
14. 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.

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

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

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

18. 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.)

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

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

21. 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.

22. 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.)

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

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

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

Working Papers

1. Do Security Analysts Speak in Two Tongues? (with D. Shanthikumar). August 2009.
   Revise and resubmit at the Review of Financial Studies.
2. Winning by Losing: Evidence on Overbidding in Mergers (with E. Moretti and F. Peters), August 2011. Manuscript.
3. With a Little Help from My (Random) Friends: Success and Failure in Post-Business School Entrepreneurship (with J. Lerner), January 2012. NBER Working Paper 16918.
4. Fishing for Fools (with A. Szeidl), June 2008. Manuscript.
5. Learning from Inflation Experiences (with S. Nagel), March 2011. Manuscript.
6. Cash is King - Acquirer and Target Revaluation after Merger Bids (with M. Opp and F. Saidi), July 2011. Manuscript.
7. You Owe Me (with K. Schmidt), August 2011. Manuscript.
8. Voting to Tell Others: Evidence from a Field Experiment (with S. DellaVigna, J. List and G. Rao), June 2010. Manuscript.