Dirk Hackbarth - Boston University Questrom

Dirk Hackbarth is currently a Professor of Finance at the Boston University Questrom School of Business. He is a former Director, and member of the Executive Committee, of the European Finance Association and appointed research associate of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI). He provides service to editorial boards of influential journals, such as Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of Corporate Finance, Management Science, Review of Finance, and Review of Financial Studies.

Dirk earned both his PhD and MS in Finance at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley; his MSc in Econometrics & Mathematical Economics at the London School of Economics & Political Science; and a diploma in Business Economics at the University of Cologne. He is an expert in various areas of corporate financial management and especially valuation of contingent claims and risky cash flows. His research interests include bankruptcy, capital structure, corporate governance, law and finance, mergers and acquisitions, product markets, real options, and valuation.

As an internationally leading scholar in corporate finance, he has given more than 150 invited talks on his research at many top-tier conferences, such as the annual meetings of the American, European, and Western Finance Associations, and at many premier research universities in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. His work has been published in a variety of academic journals, including Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Management Science, Review of Economic Studies, Review of Finance, and Review of Financial Studies.

Dirk currently serves as Advisory Editor of Schmalenbach Business Review and Associate Editor of e.g. Review of Finance and Review of Financial Studies. He is a former Associate Editor of Financial Management, Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of Corporate Finance, and Management Science. Previously he was a Co-Editor of Finance Research Letters and more recently a Guest Co-Editor of a Special Issue on “Corporate Theory” for the Journal of Corporate Finance.

Previous appointments include the May Faculty Fellow and Associate Professor of Finance (tenured in 2008), College of Business, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; visiting positions at the Bonn Graduate School of Economics (BGSE), the London Business School (LBS), the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration (NHH); and the Gutmann Center Research Fellow at the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU).

Education

PhD, Walter A. Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, 2003

MS, Walter A. Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, 2000

MS, London School of Economics, 1998

Diploma, University of Cologne, 1997

Publications

Hackbarth, D., Sun, D. (2024). “Corporate Investment and Financing Dynamics”, Review of Corporate Finance Studies, 13 (3), 625-667

Chen, Z., Hackbarth, D., Strebulaev, I. (2022). “A unified model of distress risk puzzles”, Journal of Financial Economics, 146 (2), 357-384

Hackbarth, D., Rivera, A., Wong, T. (2022). “Optimal Short-Termism”, Management Science, 68 (9), 6477-6505

Hackbarth, D., Taub, B. (2022). “Does the Potential to Merge Reduce Competition?”, Management Science, 68 (7), 5364-5383

Choi, J., Hackbarth, D., Zechner, J. (2021). “Granularity of Corporate Debt”, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 56 (4), 1127-1162

Fulghieri, P., García, D., Hackbarth, D. (2020). “Asymmetric Information and the Pecking (Dis)Order*”, Review of Finance, 24 (5), 961-996

Chen, H., Hackbarth, D. (2020). “Active Sector Funds and Fund Manager Skill”, The Journal of Portfolio Management, 46 (8), 64-85

Leland, H., Hackbarth, D. (2019). “Debt Maturity and the Leverage Ratcheting Effect”, Finance, Vol. 40 (3), 13-44

Choi, J., Hackbarth, D., Zechner, J. (2018). “Corporate debt maturity profiles”, Journal of Financial Economics, 130 (3), 484-502

Hackbarth, D., Zhou, B. (2018). “Examining The Role Of Market Price In Appraisal (Part 1 & Part 2)”, Law360

Hackbarth, D., Zhou, B. (2018). “Effects of New Tax Law on Capital Structure and Cost of Capital”, Tax Notes, 158 (11), 1523-1528

Arnold, M., Hackbarth, D., Puhan, T. (2018). “Financing Asset Sales and Business Cycles”, Review of Finance, 22 (1), 243-277

Gu, L., Hackbarth, D., Johnson, T. (2018). “Inflexibility and Stock Returns”, The Review of Financial Studies, 31 (1), 278-321

Fahlenbrach, R., Hackbarth, D., Rocholl, J., Theissen, E., Uhrig-Homburg, M. (2017). “The Future of Corporate Financing in Europe”, Schmalenbach Business Review, 18 (3), 179-180

Hackbarth, D., Johnson, T. (2015). “Real Options and Risk Dynamics”, Review of Economic Studies, 82 (4), 1449-1482

Hackbarth, D., Haselmann, R., Schoenherr, D. (2015). “Financial Distress, Stock Returns, and the 1978 Bankruptcy Reform Act”, Review of Financial Studies, 28 (6), 1810-1847

Goldstein, I., Hackbarth, D. (2014). “Corporate finance theory: Introduction to special issue”, Journal of Corporate Finance, 29 535-541

Hackbarth, D., Mathews, R., Robinson, D. (2014). “Capital Structure, Product Market Dynamics, and the Boundaries of the Firm”, Management Science, 60 (12), 2971-2993

Gu, L., Hackbarth, D. (2013). “Governance and Equity Prices: Does Transparency Matter?”, Review of Finance, 17 (6), 1989-2033

Campello, M., Hackbarth, D. (2012). “The firm-level credit multiplier”, Journal of Financial Intermediation, 21 (3), 446-472

Hackbarth, D., Miao, J. (2012). “The dynamics of mergers and acquisitions in oligopolistic industries”, Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 36 (4), 585-609

Hackbarth, D., Mauer, D. (2012). “Optimal Priority Structure, Capital Structure, and Investment”, Review of Financial Studies, 25 (3), 747-796

Almeida, H., Campello, M., Hackbarth, D. (2011). “Liquidity mergers”, Journal of Financial Economics, 102 (3), 526-558

Hackbarth, D., Gider, J. (2010). Financing Decisions.”Behavioral Finance: Investors, Corporations, and Markets”, John Wiley & Sons

Guentay, L., Hackbarth, D. (2010). “Corporate bond credit spreads and forecast dispersion”, Journal of Banking and Finance, 34 (10), 2328-2345

Hackbarth, D. (2009). “Determinants of corporate borrowing: A behavioral perspective”, Journal of Corporate Finance, 15 (4), 389-411

Hackbarth, D. (2008). “Managerial Traits and Capital Structure Decisions”, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 43 (4), 843-881

Hackbarth, D., Morellec, E. (2008). “Stock returns in mergers and acquisitions”, Journal of Finance, 63 (3), 1213-1252

Hackbarth, D., Hennessy, C., Leland, H. (2007). “Can the trade-off theory explain debt structure?”, Review of Financial Studies, 20 (5), 1389-1428

Hackbarth, D., Miao, J., Morellec, E. (2006). “Capital structure, credit risk, and macroeconomic conditions”, Journal of Financial Economics, 82 (3), 519-550