Jeffrey L. Coles
Samuel S. Stewart, Jr. Presidential Chair in Business David Eccles Chair & Professor of Finance
Department of Finance
Faculty, Staff, Tenure Track
Jeffrey L. Coles is Professor of Finance and the Samuel S. Stewart, Jr. Presidential Chair of Business at the David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah. Professor Coles taught previously at the University of Rochester, Stanford University, and Arizona State University where he served for six years as the Chair of the Department of Finance.
Professor Coles received his B.A. from Pomona College, in mathematics (with distinction) and economics (with distinction), cum laude, in 1979. He received his Ph.D. in January 1984 from Stanford University. While at Stanford, he was an associate at the Institute for Mathematical Studies in the Social Sciences, the holder of the Henry J. Newell Honors Fellowship, and a research associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Dr. Coles has teaching and research interests in compensation, boards of directors, corporate governance and control, tax, corporate investment and financial policy, asset pricing, organization structure, and the utility industry. He has published numerous academic papers in premier journals, including the Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Finance, American Economic Review, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Journal of Accounting Research, and Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis. Professor Coles is Advisory Editor Emeritus of Financial Management, Co-Editor of the Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, Associate Editor of the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, and Advisory Editor of the Journal of Financial Research. His work is featured in a wide spectrum of business publications, including the Economist, Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Fortune, and Investor’s Business Daily, and in the broadcast media, including Wall Street Week, CNN News, and National Public Radio. He has presented his work to numerous conferences, universities, and industry groups. Professor Coles has received awards for both research and teaching, including from the Honor Society of the Financial Management Association. Dr. Coles is active in executive education, delivering programs most recently to Pinnacle West Capital (APS), Motorola, Honeywell, and Central Newspapers Inc. Dr. Coles also delivered for more than 15 years a course on corporate governance and mergers and acquisitions to executives of large Chinese SOEs.
Professor Coles has advised both industry and government. Scientific consulting clients and partners include Utah Power and Light, the Utah State Department of Community Affairs, Arizona Public Service, the U. S. Department of Energy, The Directors’ Council, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Pinnacle West Capital, Central Newspapers, Inc., Honeywell, Gradient Analytics, Verus Research, and Institutional Shareholder Services. Dr. Coles served as Co-Chief Scientist of Incentive Lab before selling the company to Institutional Shareholder Services. He serves as an expert in legal actions for Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP, Werner & Ayers, LLP, and Gibbs & Bruns, LLP. Dr. Coles has served or currently serves: as a director on the boards of the Financial Management Association and the Western Finance Association; on the steering committee of the Arizona Chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors; on the investment committees of the Emma Eccles Jones Endowment (University of Utah), Arizona State University (ASU) Foundation, Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, and ASU Operating Funds; on the awards committee of the Financial Executives Institute, and as judge for the Corporate ESG Awards, Global Markets Media. Dr. Coles is Past President of the Financial Management Association and serves on the Board of Trustees of the FMA.
His current CV can be found here.
Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, Ph.D. (Economics), 1984.
Pomona College, Claremont, California, B.A. (Economics, with distinction; Mathematics, with distinction; Cum Laude), 1979.
Board of Directors, Financial Management Association, as Program Chair and President Elect, with roles through 2023
Board of Directors of the Western Finance Association, 2007-2010.
Board of Directors of the Financial Management Association, 2006-2008.
Steering Committee, National Association of Corporate Directors (Arizona), 2005- 2009.
Investment Committee, Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, 2010 – current.
Investment Committee, Arizona State University Foundation, 2008 – 2016.
Investment Committee, Arizona State University, 2008 – 2016.
“An Empirical Assessment of Empirical Corporate Finance,” with Zhichuan Li, forthcoming, lead article, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis 58 (2023), 1391-1430.
“Online appendix to An Empirical Assessment of Empirical Corporate Finance,” with Zhichuan (Frank) Li, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis.
“Clawback Provisions and Firm Risk ,” with Ilona Babenko, Benjamin Bennett, John M Bizjak, and Jason J Sandvik, Review of Corporate Finance Studies 12 (2023), 191-239.
“Online Appendix to Clawback Provisions and Firm Risk,” with Ilona Babenko, Benjamin Bennett, John M Bizjak, and Jason J Sandvik, Review of Corporate Finance Studies.
“On Index Investing,” with Davidson Heath and Matthew Ringgenberg, lead article, Journal of Financial Economics 145 (2022), 665-683.
“How Do Private Firms Respond to Corporate Taxes?” with Elena Patel, Nathan Seegert, and Matt Smith, Journal of Accounting Research 60 (2022), 965-1006.
“Online appendix to How Do Private Firms Respond to Corporate Taxes?” with Elena Patel, Nathan Seegert, and Matt Smith, Journal of Accounting Research.
“Managerial Attributes, Incentives, and Performance,” with Zhichuan (Frank) Li, Review of Corporate Finance Studies 9 (2020), 256–301.
“Performance-Vesting Provisions in Executive Compensation,” with Carr Bettis, John Bizjak, and Swaminathan Kalpathy, Journal of Accounting and Economics 66 (2018), 194-221.
“Industry Tournament Incentives,” with Zhichuan (Frank) Li and Yan (Albert) Wang, Review of Financial Studies 31 (2018), 1418–1459.
“Online appendix to Industry Tournament Incentives: Supplemental empirical results,” with Zhichuan (Frank) Li and Yan (Albert) Wang, Review of Financial Studies, 2018.
“Co-opted Boards: Costs, Benefits, Causes and Consequences,” with Naveen Daniel and Lalitha Naveen, Review of Financial Studies 27 (2014), 1751-1796.
Summarized in CFA Digest, 2015, Vol 45.
Best Paper at Conference on Corporate Governance and Fraud Prevention, 2008, Weinberg Corporate Governance Center, University of Delaware.
“Highly Cited” paper on SSCI (top 1%).
“Structural Models and Endogeneity in Corporate Finance,” with Mike Lemmon and Felix Meschke, Journal of Financial Economics 103 (2012), 149-168.
“Stock and Option Grants with Performance-Based Vesting Provisions,” with Carr Bettis, John Bizjak, and Swaminathan Kalpathy, Review of Financial Studies 23 (2010), 3849-3888.
Supplement to “Stock and Option Grants with Performance-Based Vesting Provisions”: “Preliminary Evidence on the Size, Delta, and Vega of Stock and Option Grants with Performance-Based Vesting Provisions,” online Review of Financial Studies.
Supplement to “Stock and Option Grants with Performance-Based Vesting Provisions”: “Evidence on Whether Stock and Option Grants with Performance-Based Vesting Provisions Are Associated with Earnings Management, Accounting Restatements, and Shareholder Litigation,” online Review of Financial Studies.
“Disclosure policy: a discussion of Leuz, Triantis and Wang (2008) on “going dark,” Journal of Accounting and Economics 45 (2008), 209-220.
“Boards: Does One Size Fit All?” with Naveen Daniel and Lalitha Naveen, Journal of Financial Economics 87 (2008), 329-356.
“Highly Cited” paper on SSCI (top 1%).
Designated “Hall of Fame” paper by Journal of Financial Economics.
“Earnings Management around Employee Stock Option Reissues,” with Michael Hertzel and Swaminathan Kalpathy, Journal of Accounting and Economics 41 (2006), 173-200.
“Executive Compensation and Managerial Risk-Taking,” with Naveen Daniel and Lalitha Naveen, Journal of Financial Economics 79 (2006), 431-468.
Google Scholar Top 10 Classic Finance papers “that withstood the test of time.”
Highly Cited” paper on SSCI (top 1%).
Designated “Hall of Fame” paper by Journal of Financial Economics.
Reprinted in Recent Developments in the Economics of Executive Compensation.
Accompanying SSRN note on calculation of incentives downloaded 6,701 times.
“New Evidence on the Market for Directors: Board Membership and Pennsylvania Senate Bill1310,” with Stan Hoi, Journal of Finance 58 (2003), 197-230.
“Corporate Policies Restricting Trading by Insiders,” with J. Carr Bettis and Michael Lemmon, Journal of Financial Economics 57 (2000), 191-220.
“Fund Advisor Compensation in Closed-End Funds,” with Jose Suay and Denise Woodbury, Journal of Finance 55 (2000), 1385-1414.
“What Happens to CEOs After They Retire? Evidence on Career Concerns and CEO Incentives,” with James A. Brickley and James Linck, Journal of Financial Economics 52 (1999), 341-377.
“The Shareholder Wealth Implications of Corporate Lawsuits,” with Sanjai Bhagat and John Bizjak, Financial Management 27 (1998), 5-27.
“Leadership Structure: Separating the CEO and Chairman of the Board,” with Jim Brickley and Gregg Jarrell, Journal of Corporate Finance 3 (1997), 189-220.
Reprinted in Governance: An International Perspective, John J. McConnell and Diane K. Denis (Edwin Elgar Publishing, 2004).
Reprinted in Corporate Governance Matters, David Larcker and Brian Tayan, Pearson, 2011.
“On Equilibrium Pricing Under Parameter Uncertainty,” with Uri Loewenstein and Jose Suay, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis 30 (1995), 347-364.
“The Effect of Private Antitrust Litigation on the Stock-Market Value of the Firm,” with John Bizjak, American Economic Review 85 (1995), 436-461.
“Walrasian Equilibrium Without Survival: Existence, Efficiency and Remedial Policy,” with Peter J. Hammond, Choice, Welfare, and Development; A Festschrift in Honour of Amartya K. Sen, eds. Basu, K., Pattanaik, P., and K. Suzumura, Oxford University Press, 1995.
Reprinted in The Economics of Famine, ed. J.P. Dreze, The International Library of Critical Writings in Economics, No. 101; Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishers.
“The Board of Directors and the Adoption of Poison Pills,” with Jim Brickley and Rory Terry, Journal of Financial Economics 35 (1994), 371-390.
Designated “Hall of Fame” paper by Journal of Financial Economics.
“The Wealth Effects of Interfirm Lawsuits: Evidence on the Costs of Legal Disputes and Financial Distress,” with Sanjai Bhagat and James Brickley, Journal of Financial Economics 35 (1994), 221-247.
“Stock-Based Incentive Compensation, Asymmetric Information and Investment Behavior,” with John Bizjak and Jim Brickley, Journal of Accounting and Economics 16 (1993), 349-372.
“Compensating Wage Differentials and the Welfare Cost of Unemployment: 1929-1967,” with Paul Chen, Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance 32 (1992), 3-25.
“Preferences for Unemployment Versus Inflation,” Applied Economics 22 (March 1990), 347-358, with Paul Chen.
“Equilibrium Pricing and Portfolio Composition in the Presence of Uncertain Parameters and Estimation Risk,” Journal of Financial Economics 22 (1988) 279-303, with Uri Loewenstein.
“Managerial Indemnification and Liability Insurance: The Effect on Shareholder Wealth,” Journal of Risk and Insurance 54 (1987), 721-736, with Sanjai Bhagat and James A. Brickley.
“Equilibrium Turnpike Theory with Time-Separable Utility,” Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 10 (1986), 367-394.
“Nonconvexity in General Equilibrium Labor Markets,” Journal of Labor Economics 4 (July 1986), 415-437.
“Equilibrium Turnpike Theory with Constant Returns to Scale and Possibly Heterogeneous Discount Factors,” International Economic Review 26 (October 1985), 671-679.
“Real Wage Indices,” Journal of Labor Economics 3 (July 1985), 317 336, with Paul Harte-Chen.
