• “Consumption Smoothing via Product Markets,” with Alex Butler (Rice University), Irem Demirci (Nova School of Business and Economics), and Umit Gurun (UT Dallas).
    • We study changes in households’ shopping behavior as a mechanism for coping with financial shocks in smoothing consumption. Our results show that in financial downturns, households become more conscious about prices, such that they shop more from discount stores, purchase more products that they perceive as deals, and use more coupons in their shopping. We also show that discount stores’ sales increase and high-end stores’ sales decrease during financially stressful times. Our results indicate that product markets are crucial in smoothing consumption, especially when borrowing is not a feasible option.
    • Presentations: Chicago Fed (Mar 2023), University of Luxembourg (Mar 2023), University of Oklahoma (Feb 2023), Concordia University (Nov 2022), Virginia Tech (Mar 2022), Baylor University (Oct 2021), Koc University (June 2022), 28th Finance Forum, Annual Meeting of the Spanish Finance Association (Jun 2021), ESADE Business School (Jun 2021), SFS Cavalcade North America 2021 (May 2021), 37th International Conference of the French Finance Association (AFFI) (May 2021), U.K Virtual Finance Seminar Series (Dec 2020), Rice University (Jul 2020), Tulane University (Jun 2020). 

  • “Financial Breakups” with Alex Butler (Rice University), Ioannis Spyridopoulos (American University), and Billy Xu (University of Rochester).
    • Using a large representative sample of individual credit bureau records, we document that personal financial distress increases a married couple’s probability of divorce by 4%-8%. Foreclosures strongly affect marital dissolution, whereas Chapter 13 bankruptcies, which protect debtors from foreclosure, have the opposite effect.  These effects of foreclosure and bankruptcy protection on household stability are distinct from health- or employment-related shocks.  We isolate plausibly exogenous variation in financial distress through natural disasters.  Our findings highlight the role of financial stability and housing security as determinants of family structures and suggest that household finances have broad social consequences.
    • Presentations:  SFS Cavalcade North America (May 2024), Eastern Finance Association (April 2024), American University (Kogod) (Feb 2024), Commonwealth Finance Workshop (Nov 2023), Rice University (Nov 2022), Virginia Tech (Mar 2022).

  • “Old Program, New Banks: Online Banks in Small Business Lending” with Elizabeth Bickmore (Virginia Tech) and Andrew Mackinlay (Virginia Tech).
    • While banks historically offer a litany of different credit and depository products to their local customers, technological innovation and consumer preferences have spurred growth of online banks specializing in particular activities across broad geographic areas. This paper analyzes the unintended consequences of online banks’ specialized lending model on small business lending. We use loans in the SBA program, which provides guarantees to motivate partner-lenders to lend to higher-risk borrowers. We find that online banks expand credit access in the most economically troubled counties. However, this effect is not driven by minorities or women-owned businesses. Online banks target higher guarantees, generating a cross-subsidy from traditional lenders, borrowers, and the government to online lenders.
    • Presentations: Fintech and Financial Institutions Research Conference by the University of Delaware and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia (April 2024), Midwest Finance Association (Mar 2024), FDIC Consumer Research Symposium (Mar 2024), Financial Management Association (October 2023), University of Virginia (Sep 2023), European Finance Association (Aug 2023), Eastern Finance Association (Mar 2023), The Federal Reserve Bank of New York (Dec 2022), Virginia Tech (Sep 2022).

  • “Conscientious Loan Officers and Loan Outcomes.”
    • Using a unique data set of business loans from a commercial bank, I document how loan officers reallocate monitoring efforts within their loan portfolios when facing exogenous shocks to their attention. Effort reallocation creates negative spillover effects on the probability of default and renegotiation of other firms in their portfolios. This effect is 35–45% larger for loan officers with limited conscientiousness, defined as the tendency to be organized, responsible, and hardworking. Overall, these results suggest that the on-the-job soft skills employee selection policies are relevant for banks’ efficiency.
    • Presentations: FMA (Oct 2022), European Finance Association (Aug 2021), Virginia Tech (Jan 2021), ITAM (Jan 2021), University Wilfrid Laurier (Jan 2021), PUC Chile (Jan 2021), UT El Paso (Nov 2020), FMA Doctoral Consortium (Oct 2020), Tulane University (Aug 2020).