ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT

      2008-                 Assistant Professor of Finance, Terry College of Business, University of Georgia

      2007-2008          Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Mays Business School, Texas A&M University

EDUCATION

      Ph.D.                 Finance (Aug 2007), Mays Business School, Texas A&M University

RESEARCH INTERESTS

      Market Microstructure, Empirical Asset Pricing, Investor trading behavior

RESEARCH PAPERS

      Short Selling and the Informational Efficiency of Prices (with Ekkehart Boehmer)

We present direct empirical evidence that short sellers enhance the informational efficiency of prices. Using daily shorting flow data for a large sample of NYSE-listed stocks, we first show that greater shorting flow reduces deviations of transaction prices from a random walk. Second, at lower frequencies, we show that more shorting flow accelerates the incorporation of public information into prices. Third, greater shorting flow eliminates post-earnings announcement drift for large negative earnings surprises. These results are robust to various econometric methodologies and model specifications. Overall, our results highlight the important role that short sellers play in the price discovery process.

      Order flow and prices (with Ekkehart Boehmer)

We provide new evidence on the relation between order flow and prices, an issue that is central to asset pricing and market microstructure. We examine proprietary data on a broad panel of NYSE-listed stocks that reveal daily order imbalances by institutions, individuals, and market makers. We can further differentiate regular institutional trades from institutional program trades. Our results indicate that order imbalances from different trader types play distinctly different roles in price formation. Institutions and individuals are contrarians with respect to previous-day returns, but differ in the effect their order imbalances have on contemporaneous returns. Institutional imbalances are positively related to contemporaneous returns, and we provide cross-sectional evidence that this relation is likely to be the result of firm-specific information institutions have. Individuals, specialists, and other market makers appear to provide liquidity to these actively trading institutions. Our results also suggest a special role for institutional program trades, which tend to be uninformed and provide liquidity to more aggressively trading institutions. Finally, institutional non-program imbalances (information which is not available to market participants) have predictive power for next-day returns.

Demutualization and Stock Exchange Performance (with Ekkehart Boehmer)

Demutualization of stock exchanges, a process of transforming member-owned not-for-profit cooperatives into shareholder-owned for-profit corporations, is one of the most recent trends in the exchange industry around the world. Using panel data on 132 major stock exchanges in 114 countries from 1990 to 2003, we examine the effect of demutualization on an exchange's performance in its primary product markets: trading and listings. We document some evidence that demutualization is associated with improved competitiveness in attracting trading volume. Results on listings following demutualization are weak.

RESEARCH IN PROGRESS

      • Trading in closed-end funds (with Ekkehart and Charles Jones)         

      • Do equity short sellers anticipate bond rating downgrades?, with Tyler Henry and Darren Kisgen        

      • Cash flow volatility and firm valuation, with Daniel Chi         

INVITED PRESENTATIONS AT PROFESSIONAL MEETINGS

      • 2009 First Annual Academic Forum for Securities Lending Research         

            "Short selling and the informational efficiency of prices"

      • 2007 American Finance Association , Chicago

             "Order flow and prices"

• 2007 Financial Management Association Special PhD Student Paper Presentation Sessions, Orlando

 "Short selling and the informational efficiency of prices"

      • 2006 Workshop on the Microstructure of Foreign Exchange and Equity Markets, Ottawa, Canada

            "Order flow and prices"

COURSES TAUGHT

• Corporate Finance Theory (Undergrad), University of Georgia

• Boot Camp for Incoming Finance PhD Students (PhD) , Managerial Finance (Undergrad) , Texas A&M University

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

• Discussant at NBER Microstructure meeting, May 2008

• Member of Program Committee (Investment Track), 2008 Midwest Finance Association

• Ad Hoc Referee, Journal of Finance, Journal of Empirical Finance, Review of Financial Economics