Ideas Made to Matter
Softening the blow of COVID-19 bankruptcies
New research suggests accommodations by banks and the courts can help at least some small businesses survive bankruptcy.
Faculty
David Thesmar is the Franco Modigliani Professor of Financial Economics and a Professor of Finance at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
He is an expert in corporate finance, financial intermediation, entrepreneurship, and behavioral economics. Recently, he has studied the impact of financing constraints on the real economy. Thesmar also investigates risk management and systemic risk in banking. He has also researched firm organization and non-rational decision making on corporate strategies. His work makes systematic use of large datasets but emphasizes a parsimonious modelling approach to address economic questions.
A native of France, Thesmar has been involved in policy advising both at the French and European level. He was a member of the council of economic advisors to the French prime minister from 2007 to 2013, and is currently a scientific adviser to the European Systemic Risk Board. An active participant in the public debate, Thesmar is the author of several books, and a regular columnist for the French daily newspaper Les Echos. He has also held numerous consulting positions in the private sector, with a focus on big data related topics.
Thesmar hold a BA in physics and economics from École Polytechnique, and a PhD from the Paris School of Economics.
Current Research Focus: Thesmar's research is in corporate finance. One first area is valuation, with an emphasis on forecasting rules and valuation methods. This line of research employs survey data as well as laboratory experiments in order to shed light on the efficiency of the capital budgeting process. Another related area is corporate governance: He shows that ESG investment does not contradict value creation. A third line of research argues that finance benefits the economy by allocating capital to the right projects: He finds that this contribution is very large.
Schmalz, Martin C., David Alexandre Sraer and David Thesmar. Journal of Finance Vol. 72, No. 1 (2017): 99-132. Download Paper.
Bouchaud, Jean-Philippe, Philipp Krueger, Augustin Landier, and David Thesmar. Journal of Finance Vol. 74, No. 2 (2019): 639-674. Download Paper.
Robin Greenwood, Ben Iverson, and David Thesmar. In Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Forthcoming.
Gomez, Matthieu, Augustin Landier, David Alexandre Sraer, and David Thesmar. Journal of Monetary Economics. Forthcoming. Download Paper.
Dessaint, Olivier, Jacques Olivier, Clemens A., and David Thesmar. Review of Financial Studies. Forthcoming. Download Paper.
Fraisse, Henri, Mathias LÉ, and David Thesmar. Management Science. Forthcoming. Supplement. Download Paper.
New research suggests accommodations by banks and the courts can help at least some small businesses survive bankruptcy.
Data from France shows that unemployment benefits can encourage entrepreneurs to open up new businesses and boost the economy.
Source: Brookings Institution
“Restructuring subsidies and payment deferrals are options that are especially suited for small businesses and should be targeted at them."
Source: CNBC