• Professor of Finance, Olin Business School

• Ph.D. at Northwestern University

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Class action securities litigation doesn't punish the responsible party Shareholders lose when companies are sued for inflated stock prices Aug. 3, 2006 -- When investors buy stock at inflated prices, they have a right to sue the company for any losses. Unfortunately, securities litigation isn't paying off for shareholders - even when they win. Instead, large institutional investors and lawyers rake in the money and existing shareholders end up losing out.

Private Social Security accounts could slow the flow of public companies going private When public companies go private June 8, 2005 -- Whether you follow arguments for or against President Bush's plan for having private acounts in Social Security, there is one benefit to Bush's plan that is difficult to dispute: private accounts would increase activity in the stock market. The more investors in the market, the stronger the market and — ultimately — the stronger the economy. Currently, however, the market is relatively weak and will probably stay weak considering the rate at which public companies have been delisting from the market in the past five years. A professor at the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis has studied the trend of public companies turning private and finds that one factor that could ebb the exodus is strengthening the market through more investor participation.

Corporate Governance Conference at Washington U.'s Olin School Worldwide Business experts to visit Olin School of Business for corporate governance conference Nov. 2, 2004 -- Business experts from all over the world will come to the Olin School of Business at Washington University to participate in a three-day conference on corporate governance Nov. 11 to 13. "Key Issues in Corporate Governance," co-sponsored by the Olin School, the Center for Research in Economics and Strategy (CRES), and the Journal of Financial Intermediation, will be held at the Charles F. Knight Executive Education Center. The conference will feature two days of academic presentations and a third day devoted to panel discussions among senior corporate executives, policymakers and academics. Topics include financial markets and corporate governance regulation in the United States and similar issues in the European Union.

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Tightening noose Forbes June 19, 2006 -- Last year 2.4% of U.S. public companies were hit with securities class actions. Virtually all of those cases will be settled for pennies on the dollar--1.2% of maximum estimated losses in 2005, according to economic consultant Cornerstone Research. But loss as typically defined in securities suits has no connection to the economic reality of stock investing. A "fraud" that inflates a share price helps the investor who sells as much as it hurts the one who buys. Washington University researcher Anjan Thakor found that 31% of institutional investors showed a profit trading stocks of 480 companies that were later sued for fraud.

Research infrastructure key to Nobel aspirations Shanghai Daily online (China) April 26, 2006 -- Late last month, some members of the Nobel Prize Committee, during their first official visit to China, found themselves besieged by Chinese mainlanders with one question: When will there be a Nobel Prize laureate from China? WUSTL finance professor Anjan Thakor, who served as a member of the Nobel Prize in Economics Nominating Committee from 1993 to 2003 and is now a professor for WUSTL-Fudan University EMBA program, provided some advice during an interview in Shanghai.

Commentary: Private insecurities Wall Street Journal Feb. 20, 2006 -- U. Pittsburgh professor Ken Lehn looks at the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act on its 10th anniversary. He mentions a recent study co-authored by WUSTL business professor Anjan Thakor which reveals a fundamental problem: The compensation investors receive in settlements of federal securities class-actions does not correspond to the harm investors incur from alleged securities fraud.

Research interests:

Corporate finance, financial intermediation and economics of asymmetric information.

Selected Publications:

* "The Many Faces of Information Disclosure," Review of Financial Studies, with A. Boot, 14-4, 2001, 1021-1058

* "Managerial Career Concerns and Investments in Information," RAND Journal of Economics, with T. Milbourn and R. Shockley, 32-2, 2001, 82-99

* "Can relationship banking Survive Competition?" Journal of Finance, with A. Boot, 55-2, April 2000, 679-714

* "Reputation, Discretion and Financial Contracting," American Economic Review, with A. Boot and S. Greenbaum, 83-5, December 1993, 1165-1183

* "Shareholder Preferences and Dividend Policy," Journal of Finance, with M. Brennan, 45, September 1990, 993-1018

Academic/professional activities:

Managing Editor: Journal of Financial Intermediation, since 1996

Publisher: Academic Press (First issue published March 1990)

Associate Editor: Journal of Banking and Finance

Financial Management Guest Editor: Special Issue of Financial Management (Summer 1993) on "Corporate Investments"

Western Finance Association Program Committee: 1985 to 1998

Awards/honors:

Awarded Outstanding Teacher in Doctoral Program for the University of Michigan Business School, 2003

American Finance Association Nominating Committee for Vice-Presidents and Directors, 2001

Outstanding Senior Faculty Research Award at the University of Michigan Business School, 1999

Nobel Prize in Economics Nominating Committee, 1993-2003

Personal interests:

Professor Thakor enjoys painting and skiing.