1. Are Banks and Private Credit Complements or Substitutes? - Job Market Paper
Presentations. ASSA Main Session (2027)*, WFA – Early Career Women in Finance Conference (2026)*, Rice University (2026)
Abstract. I study how the rapid growth of private credit reshapes bank functions in credit intermediation. As private credit competes in the small- and middle-market corporate lending segment, where small banks have comparative advantages, small banks defend their core markets by lowering loan rates on small business loans and commercial lines of credit, loosening underwriting standards, and expanding credit to small businesses. In contrast, large banks retreat from direct lending and instead supply capital to private credit intermediaries, capturing higher returns on capital and interest income through favorable risk-weight treatment associated with lending to private credit. Banks with weaker balance sheets have stronger incentives to exploit this regulatory advantage.
2. Resource Curse or Fiscal Gains? Effects of Shale Booms on Municipal Access to Capital - with Alex Butler and Derrick Liang
Presentations. Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (2025), Rice University (2025), Eastern Finance Association (2026)**, HKU Finance PhD Workshop (2026)**
Abstract. How do capital markets price large revenue windfalls? Using shale booms as a quasi-natural experiment that exploits variation in shale discoveries and drilling viability, we find that resource windfalls improve municipal access to capital markets via lower borrowing costs, improved credit ratings, and greater debt issuance. These effects are driven by greater tax revenue and reduced reliance on intergovernmental transfers, but are partly offset by externalities associated with shale booms. Municipalities with weaker institutional quality see attenuated fiscal benefits of shale booms, supporting the resource curse mechanism in which weak governance induces wasteful spending and inefficient allocation of resources.
3. Creditor Rights, Debtholder Conflicts, and Fragile Borrowers - Ph.D. Third-Year Paper
Best Paper Award semifinalist at FMA Annual Meeting 2025
Presentations. Financial Management Association (2025), Eastern Finance Association (2025), Southern Finance Association (2025), Rice University (2024)
Abstract. I show that laws protecting creditor rights can generate unintended economic costs, using data on firms’ use of off-balance sheet subsidiaries derived from 10-K text analysis and the staggered rollout of state-level provisions that strengthen repossession rights for creditors within these subsidiaries. Facing lower expected recovery and diminished bargaining power, bank lenders and bondholders of parent firms reprice this risk through higher loan spreads, tighter covenant protection, increased underwriting fees, and worse credit ratings. These shifts in the claims hierarchy and credit terms tighten financing conditions and raise entry barriers for young and small firms that rely on debt financing.
4. The Private Option - with Cyrus Aghamolla and David Zhang
Draft coming soon!
*denotes a presentation that is yet to occur. ** denotes presentation by co-author.