Bio
B. Espen Eckbo is the Tuck Centennial Professor of Finance who studies corporate finance with a particular emphasis on transactions in the market for corporate control (M&As and corporate restructurings), how firms raise capital to fund investments, capital structure choice, and issues in international corporate governance. He joined the Tuck School of Business faculty in 1998. He is a research associate of the European Corporate Governance Institute and is the recipient of the Batterymarch Fellowship and a Honorary Doctorate awarded by the Norwegian School of Economics. Before coming to Tuck, he was a faculty member at the University of British Columbia (1981 through 1996) and at the Stockholm School of Economics (1996-1998). He founded Tuck’s Lindenauer Center for Corporate Governance in 1999, which was renamed the Lindenauer Forum for Governance Research in 2020. He teaches MBA electives on advanced corporate finance and governance, and on corporate takeovers
Current Research Topics
- Investment banking
- Takeovers
- Bankruptcy
- Corporate governance
- Liquidity risk
Professional Activities
Academic positions
- Tuck School of Business, 1998–present
- Adjunct Professor, Norwegian School of Economics, 1990–present
- Visiting Professor, MIT, 2001
- Gösta Olson Professor of Finance, Stockholm School of Economics, 1996–98
- Finn Øyen Professor of Finance, Norwegian School of Management, 1993–94
- Visiting Professor, University of California, Los Angeles, 1985–86
- Professor of Finance, University of British Columbia, 1981–96
Board memberships
- Academic Director, Financial Management Association, 2007–2010
- IndexSpar, 2000–05; Center for Leadership in Government, America’s Health Insurance Plans, 2006–present
- Investment Committee, UNIFOR, 1997–98
- Norwegian National Research Council, 1996–2001
Editorial positions
- Series Editor, Handbooks of Economics, for the series on Corporate Finance, 2020-present
- Advisory Editor, Handbooks in Finance, 2007–present
- Guest Co-Editor, Journal of Financial Economics, 69(1)
- Founding Co-Editor, European Finance Review (since renamed Review of Finance)1997–2003
Awards
- Woxsen University (Hyderabad, India) inaugurates the “Bjorn Espen Eckbo Chair in Corporate Finance," 2022
- Review of Finance finalist for the Pagano-Zechner Award for Best Non-Investment Paper, 2022
- Review of Finance Distinguished Referee Award, 2021
- Runner-up, Best Paper, Financial Management Association Meetings, 2020
- Best Paper, European Financial Management Association Meetings, 2016
- Three All Star publications in the Journal of Financial Economics (published in 1983, 1986 and 2000)
- Honorary Doctoral Degree (Docteur Honoris Causa), Norwegian School of Economics, 2011
- Best paper, Journal of Corporate Finance, 2009
- Runner-up, Best Paper, European Finance Association Meetings, 2006
- Barclays Global Investors/Michael Brennan Prize for best paper, Review of Financial Studies, 2001
- Nominee, Smith-Breeden Prize for best paper, Journal of Finance, 1998
- Harry Johnson Prize for best paper, Canadian Journal of Economics, 1987
- Batterymarch Fellowship (awarded in a worldwide competition to young, untenured finance scholars), 1987
Books in Progress
- With A. Malenko and K. Thorburn, “Corporate Takeover Contests” (Foundations and Trends in Finance), 2022
Books
- “Handbook of Corporate Finance: Empirical Corporate Finance”, Vol. 1, (Elsevier/North-Holland Handbook of Finance Series), 2007
- “Handbook of Corporate Finance: Empirical Corporate Finance”, Vol. 2, (Elsevier/North-Holland Handbook of Finance Series), 2008
- “Corporate Takeovers: Modern Empirical Developments”, Vol. 1: “Valuation Estimates and Takeover Activity”, (Elsevier/Academic Press), 2010
- “Corporate Takeovers: Modern Empirical Developments”, Vol. 2: “Bidding Strategies, Financing, and Corporate Control” (Elsevier/Academic Press), 2010
- With K. Thorburn, “Corporate Restructuring,” (Foundations and Trends in Finance), 2013
- With G. Phillips and M. Sorensen (eds.), “Handbook of the Economics of Corporate Finance, Vol. 1: Private Equity and Entrepreneurial Finance, (Elsevier/North-Holland), 2023
Working Papers
- With T. Makaew and K. Thorburn, “Are Stock-Financed and Bidder-Initiated Takeovers Opportunistic?” 2023
- With O. Norli and K. Thorburn, “Who Initiates Takeovers?” 2023
- With E. De Bodt and R. Roll, “Competition Shocks, Rival Reactions, and Return Comovement,” 2023
- With X. Su and K. Thorburn, “Bank Compensation for the Penalty-Free Loan-Prepayment Option: Theory and Tests,” 2023
- With B. Ødegaard, “Board Gender-Balancing and Insider Trading Performance,” 2023
Selected Publications
- With M. Lithell, “Merger-Driven Listing Dynamics”, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, forthcoming
- With O. Dessaint and A. Golubov, “Bidder-Specific Synergies and the Evolution of Acquirer Returns,” Management Science, forthcoming
- With K. Li and W.Wang, “Loans to Chapter 11 Firms: Contract Design, Repayment Risk, and Pricing,” Journal of Law and Economics, 66, 2023
- With K. Nygard and K. Thorburn, “Does Mandatory Board Gender-Balancing Reduce Firm Value?” Harvard Business Law Review, 12, 2022
- With K. Nygaard and K. Thorburn, “Valuation Effects of Norway’s Board Gender-Quota Revisited,” Management Science, 68, 2022
- With M. Kisser, "The Leverage-Profitability Puzzle Resurrected”, Review of Finance, 25, 2021.
- With M. Kisser, “Tradeoff Theory and Leverage Dynamics of High-Frequency Debt Issuers”, Review of Finance, 25, 2021
- With A. Malenko and K. Thorburn, “Strategic Decisions in Takeover Auctions”, Annual Review of Financial Economics, 12, 2020
- With T. Makaew and K. Thorburn, "Are Stock-Financed Takeovers Opportunistic?", Journal of Financial Economics, 128, 2018
- With K. Thorburn and W. Wang, "How Costly is Corporate Bankruptcy for the CEO?” Journal of Financial Economics, 121, 2016
- “Corporate Takeovers and Economic Efficiency,” Annual Review of Financial Economics, 6, 2014
- With S. Betton, R. Thompson, and K. Thorburn, “Merger Negotiations with Stock Market Feedback,” Journal of Finance, 69, 2014
- With K. Thorburn, "Corporate Restructuring," Foundations and Trends in Finance, 7, 2013
- “Banking System Bailout – Scandinavian Style,” Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, 22, 2010
- With K. Thorburn, “Bankruptcy as an Auction Process: Lessons from Sweden”, with Karin S. Thorburn, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, 21, 2009
- “Bidding Strategies and Takeover Premiums: A Review,” Journal of Corporate Finance, 15, 2009
- With K. Thorburn, "Creditor Financing and Overbidding in Bankruptcy Auctions: Theory and Tests," Journal of Corporate Finance, 15, 2009
- With S. Betton and K. Thorburn, "Merger Negotiations and the Toehold Puzzle," Journal of Financial Economics, 91, 2009
- “Equity Issues and the Disappearing Rights Offer Phenomenon”, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, 20, 2008
- With K. Thorburn, "Automatic Bankruptcy Auctions and Fire-Sales," Journal of Financial Economics, 89, 2008
- With Ø. Norli, "Liquidity Risk, Leverage, and Long-Run IPO Returns," Journal of Corporate Finance, 11, 2005
- With K. Thorburn, "Control Benefits and CEO Discipline in Automatic Bankruptcy Auctions," Journal of Financial Economics, 69, 2003
- With K. Thorburn, "Gains to Bidder Firms Revisited: Domestic and Foreign Acquisitions in Canada," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 35, 2000
- With S. Betton, "Toeholds, Bid-Jumps, and Expected Payoffs in Takeovers," Review of Financial Studies, 13, 2000
- With R. Masulis and Ø. Norli, "Seasoned Public Offerings: Resolution of the ‘New Issues Puzzle’," Journal of Financial Economics, 56, 2000
- With D. Smith, "The Conditional Performance of Insider Trades," Journal of Finance, 53, 1998
- With O. Bohren and D. Michalsen, “Why Underwrite Rights Offers? Some New Evidence,” Journal of Financial Economics 46, 1997
- With S. Verma, "Managerial Shareownership, Voting Power, and Corporate Dividends," Journal of Corporate Finance, 1, 1994
- With J. Liu, "Temporary Components of Stock Prices: New Univariate Results," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 28, 1993
- "Mergers and the Value of Antitrust Deterrence," Journal of Finance, 47, 1992
- With R. Masulis, "Adverse Selection and the Rights Offer Paradox," Journal of Financial Economics, 32, 1992
- "Valuation Effects of Greenmail Prohibitions," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 25, 1990
- With R. Giammarino and R. Heinkel, “Asymmetric Information and the Medium of Exchange in Takeovers: Theory and Tests,” Review of Financial Studies, 3, 1990
- With V. Maksimovic and J. Williams, “Consistent Estimation of Cross-Sectional Models in Event Studies,” Review of Financial Studies, 3, 1990
- With H. Langohr, “Information Disclosure, Means of Payment, and Takeover Premiums: Public and Private Tender Offers in France,” Journal of Financial Economics, 24, 1989
- “Valuation Effects of Corporate Debt Offerings,” Journal of Financial Economics, 15, 1986
- “Mergers and the Market for Corporate Control: The Canadian Evidence,” Canadian Journal of Economics, 19, 1986
- "Mergers and the Market Concentration Doctrine: Evidence from the Capital Market," Journal of Business, 58, 1985
- With P. Wier, "Antimerger Policy under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act: A Re-Examination of the Market Power Hypothesis," Journal of Law and Economics, 28, 1985
- “Horizontal Mergers, Collusion and Stockholder Wealth,” Journal of Financial Economics, 11, 1983