Martin Schmalz
Martin Schmalz is Professor of Finance and Economics at Saïd Business School,
University of Oxford. He holds a graduate degree (Dipl.-Ing.) in mechanical engineering
from the Universität Stuttgart (Germany) and a M.A. and PhD in Economics from
Princeton University (USA)
.
Prof. Schmalz is the Academic Director of Oxford’s Blockchain Strategy Programme,
and co-director of the Open Banking & AI in Finance Programme.
He co-authored “The Business of Big Data: How to Create Lasting Value in the Age of
AI”, and was featured as one of the “40 under 40” best business school professors
worldwide at the age of 33. He was invited to present to regulators and policy makers
across the globe, including the US Department of Justice, The White House Council of
Economic Advisers, European Commission, European Parliament, OECD, various central
banks, and at universities across America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
His prize-winning research focuses on corporate governance and asset management. It
has been published in The Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, and
Review of Financial Studies, and was covered, among others, by The New York Times,
The Economist, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Bloomberg, The New Yorker, The
Atlantic, Forbes, Fortune, Handelsblatt, and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Antitrust and Competition
Is There Really a Conflict Between Better Corporate Governance and More Competitive Product Markets?
A new study shows that the supposed tradeoff between better corporate governance and more competitive product markets may not exist. More commonly-owned...
Antitrust and Competition
How Market Power Worsens Income Inequality
Inequality in stock ownership has grown considerably over the past two decades and is far more pronounced than inequality in consumption or income. A...
ESG, Corporate Governance & Future of the Firm
Why Firms’ Shareholders Condone Seemingly “Excessive” Executive Pay Packages, and What it Means For the Economy
If the large mutual funds are out to improve governance, why do they condone, if not encourage, seemingly excessive and performance-insensitive compensation packages? A new...
Latest news
Regulation
Why Have Uninsured Depositors Become De Facto Insured?
Due to a change in how the FDIC resolves failed banks, uninsured deposits have become de facto insured. Not only is this dangerous for risk in the banking system, it is not what Congress intends the FDIC to do, writes Michael Ohlrogge.
Antitrust and Competition
Merger Law Reaches Acquirer Incentives and Private Equity Strategies
Steven C. Salop argues that Section 7 of the Clayton Act prohibits mergers in which the acquiring firm’s unilateral incentives and business strategy are likely to lessen market competition.
Antitrust and Competition
Tim Wu Responds to Letter by Former Agency Chief Economists
Former special assistant to the president for technology and competition policy Tim Wu responds to the November 27 letter signed by former chief economists at the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department Antitrust Division calling for a separation of the legal and economic analysis in the draft Merger Guidelines.
Book Reviews
Can the Public Moderate Social Media?
ProMarket student editor Surya Gowda reviews the arguments made by Paul Gowder in his new book, The Networked Leviathan: For Democratic Platforms.
Income Inequality
Uninhibited Campaign Donations Risks Creating Oligarchy
In new research, Valentino Larcinese and Alberto Parmigiani find that the 1986 Reagan tax cuts led to greater campaign spending from wealthy individuals, who benefited the most from this policy. The authors argue that a very permissive system of political finance, combined with the erosion of tax progressivity, created the conditions for the mutual reinforcement of economic and political disparities. The result was an inequality spiral hardly compatible with democratic ideals.
ESG, Corporate Governance & Future of the Firm
Did the Meme Stock Revolution Actually Change Anything?
Many financial commentators thought that the surge of retail investors participating in the stock market, the most notable of whom boosted “meme stocks” like GameStop, would democratize corporate governance and improve prosocial firm behavior, including the promotion of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals. In new research, Dhruv Aggarwal, Albert H. Choi, and Yoon-Ho Alex Lee find evidence that the exact opposite took place.
Antitrust and Competition
The Kroger-Albertsons Merger Will Not Help Grocery Competition
Kroger and Albertsons say they need to merge to compete with Walmart. Claire Kelloway argues that what they really want is Walmart’s monopsony power, and permitting mergers on these grounds will only harm suppliers, workers, and consumers.