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Joshua D. Rauh

Joshua D. Rauh
Professor, Finance
Contact Info
JoshuaD.Rauh
Ormond Family Professor of Finance
Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution
Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
Academic Area: 
Finance

Research Statement

Joshua Rauh specializes in empirical studies of corporate investment and financial structure, including applications to private equity and venture capital. He has also conducted extensive research on the financial structure of pension funds and their sponsors, and the measurement of public sector pension liabilities.

Bio

Joshua Rauh is a Professor of Finance at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). He formerly taught at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business (2004–9) and the Kellogg School of Management (2009–12).

Professor Rauh studies corporate investment and financial structure, private equity and venture capital, and the financial structure of pension funds and their sponsors. He has published numerous journal articles and was awarded the 2006 Brattle Prize for the outstanding research paper on corporate finance published in the Journal of Finance for his paper “Investment and Financing Constraints: Evidence from the Funding of Corporate Pension Plans.”

In 2011 he won the Smith Breeden Prize for the outstanding research paper on capital markets published in the Journal of Finance, for his paper “Public Pension Promises: How Big Are They and What Are they Worth?” coauthored with Robert Novy-Marx. His other writings include “Earnings Manipulation, Pension Assumptions and Managerial Investment Decisions,” coauthored with Daniel Bergstresser and Mihir Desai, which won the Barclays Global Investor Best Symposium Paper from the European Finance Association and appeared in the Quarterly Journal of Economics. Other work has appeared in the Review of Financial Studies, the Journal of Financial Economics, and the Review of Finance.

Professor Rauh’s research on state and local pension systems in the United States has received national media coverage in outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Financial Times, and The Economist. He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Finance and an editor of the Journal of Pension Economics and Finance and the Review of Corporate Finance Studies. He holds a BA degree in economics, magna cum laude with distinction, from Yale University and a PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Awards and Honors

  • Dhirubhai Ambani Faculty Fellow in Entrepreneurship, Stanford GSB, 2013-2014

Publications

Journal Articles

Steven N. Kaplan, Joshua D. Rauh. American Economic Review. May 2013, Vol. 103, Issue 3, Pages 158-162.
Steven N. Kaplan, Joshua D. Rauh. Review of Financial Studies. 2010, Vol. 23, Issue 3, Pages 1004-1050.

Courses Taught

Degree Courses

2015-16

This class is devoted to recent developments in the empirical corporate finance literature. Topics include: financial contracting, liquidation and renegotiation, taxation and capital structure, the role of labor markets, leveraged buyouts,...

This course considers the challenges faced by start-ups in achieving liquidity. We take the perspectives of organizational behavior, marketing, and finance, and examine forks in the road faced by firms that have already launched products....

2014-15

This course considers the challenges faced by start-ups in achieving liquidity. We take the perspectives of organizational behavior, marketing, and finance, and examine forks in the road faced by firms that have already launched products....

Stanford Case Studies

ASTRO Gaming | E542
Joshua D. Rauh, Jessica Morgan2015
Marin Software | E541
Joshua D. Rauh, Jessica Morgan2015
Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising | E510
Jonathan Levav, Joshua Rauh, Jason Luther2014

Conferences, Talks, and Speaking Engagements

In the Media

The Providence Journal, February 10, 2013
Joshua D. Rauh and Robert Novy-Marx say most states have "been making financial plans based on wildly optimistic forecasts."
Washington Post, November 23, 2012
Stanford GSB Prof. Joshua Rauh explores the cost of public pensions.

Insights by Stanford Business

January 1, 2014
The symposium was the culmination of the massive open online course about retirement and pensions.
July 9, 2013
Institutional investors often favor deals close to home — even though it can cost them dearly.
April 22, 2013
Research shows that some popular conceptions about the sources of U.S. wealth may be incorrect.

School News

October 13, 2014
Self-paced course taught by Stanford GSB finance expert Josh Rauh focuses on how to make smart decisions as an investor.