Research

In my research, I have been trying to focus on addressing practical problems. My current research agenda aims to explore contagion in financial markets and its pricing implications, the role that financial development/innovation plays in the economy and its corporate governance ramifications, risk-taking behavior in the banking system and designing a proper regulatory response to address that.

We are living in a world that is becoming highly integrated; due to the advancements in information and communication technology, financial markets are not only more global and integrated than ever before but also a place of constant innovation. Our understanding of these developments is very limited though: Does this mean our portfolios are inherently riskier than before since this current integration could potentially undermine diversification benefits? Is this risk reflected in financial instruments? If so, what’s the price of risk? How can this risk be hedged? What are the implications from the corporate governance perspective? Does this require any regulatory response? If so, what is the proper and optimal regulation? As a profession, we have been struggling to address the conflict of interest between the taxpayers and the financial system via the mispriced government safety net. The urgency to address the too-big-to-fail doctrine, to revisit the corporate governance mechanism, and to revise our regulations became even more evident in light of the recent financial crisis. These are the type of questions and research ideas that I am planning to explore and work on.

I wrote my dissertation on credit risk, credit spreads, credit contagion, bond market liquidity, and default correlation. In my first essay I devise a way to measure joint default risk and study its bond pricing implications. In the second essay, I propose FOMC policy announcements as a potential factor outside the structural framework that affects credit spreads. Currently, I am becoming more and more interested in Corporate Governance, especially from the perspective of creditors and constituencies other than the shareholders.

My CV can be found here.

Below is the list of papers that I am either working on or is currently under review at a journal:

Publications:

1. “Climate Change Risk and Corporate Cash Holding: Global Evidence”, with A.Masum, M.Mollagholamali, R.Rao; [Internet Appendix] Financial Management; Conditionally Accepted

2. “CEO Marital Status and Corporate Cash Holdings“, Accepted at European Financial Management, https://doi.org/10.1111/eufm.12413 (with Md.N.Hossain and Ahmed Elnahas)

3. “Corporate Cash Holdings, Agency Problems and Economic Policy Uncertainty,” International Review of Financial Analysis, 2021, Vol. 77, 101859, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.irfa.2021.101859 (with S. Al-Thaqeb; A. Nejadmalayeri and M. Mollagholamali)

4.“The Impact of Climate Change on the Cost of Bank Loans,” Journal of Corporate Finance, 2021, Vol. 69, 102019, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2021.102019, [Internet Appendix] (with Abdullah Masum)

5. “The Impact of Stronger Shareholder Control on Bondholders,” Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 2021, 56(4), 1259-1295. https://doi.org/10.1017/S002210902000040X, [Internet Appendix] (with Sadra Amiri-Moghadam and Mahdi Rastd)

6. “Environmental Regulation and the Cost of Bank Loans: International Evidence,” Journal of Financial Stability, 2020, Vol. 51, 100797. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfs.2020.100797, [Internet Appendix] (with Incheol Kim and Amirhossein Fard)

7. “Do FOMC Actions Speak Loudly? Evidence from Corporate Bond Credit Spreads,” Review of Finance, 2018, Vol.22 (5), 1877–1909. https://doi.org/10.1093/rof/rfx026 [Internet Appendix] (with Ali Nejadmalayeri and Tim Krehbiel)

8. “Debt Market Illiquidity and Correlated Default Risk,”  Finance Research Letters, 2018, Vol. 26, 266-273. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.frl.2018.02.002 [Log file] (with Mohsen Mollagholamali)

9. “Beyond Market Timing Theory,” Studies in Economics and Finance, 2018, Vol. 35 (4), pp.458-480. https://doi.org/10.1108/SEF-09-2017-0245 (Lead Article) (with Subramanian Iyer)

10. “Measuring Correlated Default Risk: A New Metric and Validity Tests,”  Journal of Fixed Income, 2017, Vol. 27 (2), 6-29. https://doi.org/10.3905/jfi.2017.27.2.006 (Lead Article) [Log file] (with Seoyoung Kim, Ali Nejadmalayeri, and Tim Krehbiel)


Working Papers:

  1. “Debt Covenants across Public and Private Debt: The Role of Corporate Taxes, Bankruptcy and Agency Conflicts” with Ali Nejadmalayeri and Aaron Rosenblum. Under Review
  2. “Corporate Long-termism: Looking Toward an (Un)certain Future,” with Tuugi Chuluun, Takeshi Nishikawa, and Andrew Prevost;
  3. “Contingent Capital Conversion under Dual Asset and Equity Jump Diffusions,” with Weiping Li and Ali Nejadmalayeri. R&R at International Review of Financial Analysis
  4. “Credit Risk Correlation and the Cost of Bank Loans,” with Theophilus Osah
  5. “Credit Risk Correlation and the Cross-Section of Stock Returns,” with Theophilus Osah
  6. “The Dark Side of Competition: Evidence from Private Firms and SMEs,” with Y.Liu and Mark Kroll. Under Review
  7. “Hedge Fund Activism and Labor Restructuring,” with Incheol Kim and Yuree Lim
  8. “Climate change Risk and Corporate Bond Credit Spreads”, with A.Masum, M.Mollagholamali, A.Nejadmalayeri
  9. “Unemployment Stigma Through the Business Cycle and Across the Workforce,” with E. Quercioli
  10. “Strategically Rational Risk Taking by Age in COVID-19, and the Heterogeneous Agent Behavioral SIR Model,” with Elena Quercioli and Lones Smith; [Internet Appendix]
  11. “The Costs of Financial Distress: Evidence from Credit Default Swaps,” with Mohsen Mollagholamali, working paper
  12. “Conditional Volatility, Volume Shocks and GARCH Effects,”


Other Publications:

Conference Presentations

  • Southwest Finance Association Conference 2011 (Houston, TX-March 2011), “Beyond Market Timing Theory”, with Iyer Subramanian
  • Midwest Finance Association 2012 (New Orleans, LA-February 2012), “Conditional Volatility, Volume Shocks and GARCH Effects”
  • Eastern Finance Association 2012 (Boston, MA-April 2012), “Conditional Volatility, Volume Shocks and GARCH Effects”
  • Midwest Finance Association meeting 2013 (Chicago, IL-March 2013), “Contingent Capital Conversion under Jump Diffusions”
  • Financial Management Association meeting 2013, top ten sessions (Chicago, IL-October 2013), “Corporate Bond Credit Spreads and FOMC Announcements”
  • Desert Finance Festival 2013 (Albuquerque, NM-September 2013), “Corporate Bond Credit Spreads and FOMC Announcements”
  • Midwest Finance Association 2014 (Orlando, FL-March 2014), “Corporate Bond Credit Spreads and FOMC Announcements”
  • Eastern Finance Association 2015 (New Orleans, April 8 – 11, 2015), “Corporate Bond Credit Spreads and FOMC Announcements” and “Credit Spreads and Correlated Default Risk”
  • Financial Management Association meeting 2015 (Orlando, FL-October 2015), “Credit Spreads and Correlated Default Risk”
  • Southwest Finance Association Conference 2016 (Oklahoma City, OK-March 2016), “Credit spreads and Correlated Default Risk”
  • Midwest Finance Association 2016 (Atlanta, GA-March 2016), “Beyond Market Timing Theory”
  • Southern Finance Association 2016  (November 16 – 19, 2016 – Florida), “Measuring Joint Default Risk”
  • Midwest Finance Association 2018 (San Antonio, TX – March 1-3, 2018), “The Impact of Stronger Shareholder Control on Bondholders”
  • Financial Management Association meeting 2018 (San Diego, CA- October 10-13, 2018), “The Impact of Stronger Shareholder Control on Bondholders”
  • Financial Management Association meeting 2019 (New Orleans- October 23-26, 2019), “Economic Policy Uncertainty and Corporate Cash Holdings: International Evidence”
  • Financial Management Association meeting 2020 (Virtual- Zoom), “Future Orientation and Uncertain Tone: Evidence from Corporate Discourse”

Invited Talks:

  • Oklahoma State University (July 2014)
  • Ohio University (April 2014)
  • Ohio University (November 2014)
  • Northeastern Illinois University (March 2015)
  • California Polytechnic State University (April 2017)
  • University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (February 2017)

Professional Service

  • Ad-hoc Referee for:
    • Management Science
    • Journal of Financial Stability
    • Financial Review
    • International Review of Finance
    • International Review of Economics and Finance
    • International Review of Financial Analysis
    • British Journal of Management
    • Studies in Economics and Finance
    • Finance Research Letters
    • Economics Letters
    • Bulletin of Economic Research
    • Journal of Applied Finance
    • Managerial Finance
  • Session Chair at:
    • Midwest Finance Association 2013
    • Midwest Finance Association 2016
    • Southwest Finance Association 2016
    • Financial Management Association 2019
  • Discussant for:
    • Southwest Finance Association 2011
    • Midwest Finance Association 2012
    • Eastern Finance Association 2012
    • Midwest Finance Association 2013
    • Desert Finance Festival 2013
    • Financial Management Association 2013
    • Midwest Finance Association 2014
    • Eastern Finance Association 2015
    • Midwest Finance Association 2016
    • Southern Finance Association 2016
    • Midwest Finance Association 2018
    • Financial Management Association 2018
    • Financial Management Association 2019