Costello Research Risk Management

Since 2008, the meteoric rise of index funds has produced extreme consolidation of corporate ownership. So far, the outcomes for firms are a mixed bag.

Burned-out auditors are getting dangerously distracted by job postings that offer a glimpse of more appealing professional pathways.

We know from prior research that savvy investors respond to ESG data. But a pair of finance professors have discovered perhaps the most lucrative wrinkle in this strategy.

The 2008 financial crisis cast a pall of pessimism over veteran CEOs that took three years to lift. David Koo, assistant professor of accounting, has found that memories of past recessions, triggered by recent ones, can weigh on chief executives’ decisions, literally for years.

Fake trades engineered to juice an exchange’s numbers have been a part of bitcoin exchanges since the beginning, finds a George Mason finance prof.

In churchgoing counties, financial advisors are more likely to remember their ethical training and resist the temptation to misbehave.

The economic data on climate and business outcomes paints a picture of profound disruption beneath a placid-seeming surface.

You can tell a lot about a hedge fund’s quality—and long-term performance—from the market climate in which it was launched.
Lin Sun, assistant professor of finance, recently published a paper in Review of Finance that compares hedge funds formed in high-demand, or “hot,” markets to those produced in a “cold” market climate.

The SEC’s unique treatment of companies that opt into public reporting shows that lighter-touch regulation can sometimes be just as effective. Associate professor of accounting Bret Johnson’s recent paper looks at how the SEC handles the added responsibility of reviewing voluntary filings.

Bo Hu, an assistant professor of finance at Mason, is developing new research methods to better capture the intricate, interlinked dynamics of financial markets.