Raghavendra Rau

Sir Evelyn de Rothschild Professor of Finance

Founder and Academic Director of the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF)

MBA (IIM Bangalore), MSc, PhD (INSEAD)

I’m a member of the Finance subject group at Cambridge Judge Business School, which focuses on the investment and financial decisions of firms and institutions.

My research interests include how investors and firms acquire and use information. I will be serving as the President of the Financial Management Association in 2025. I have held the Gresham Professorship of Business at Gresham College and the Ambank Chair in Financial Services at the Universiti Malaya. I am also a past president of the European Finance Association and was previously Principal at Barclays Global Investors, then the largest asset manager in the world, in San Francisco. I’m an Associate Editor of the Journal of Corporate Finance, among others.

My details

Download Raghavendra's CV

Contact details

+44 (0)1223 761079

r.rau@jbs.cam.ac.uk

www.raghurau.com

Academic area

Finance

Professional experience
Previous appointments
Publications
Awards and honours

Professional experience

Professor Rau has also held the Gresham Professorship of Business in 2022/25, Ambank Chair in Financial Services at the Universiti Malaya in 2023/24 and was awarded a Honorary Professorship at the University of Jordan in 2024. He served as Vice-President of the Financial Management Association in 2023 and is the President of the Association in 2025. In 2014, he served as President of the European Finance Association, as well as Vice-President in 2013.

Professor Rau serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Corporate Finance, and the Journal of Banking and Finance, among others. His research has frequently been covered by the popular press including the New York Times, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Economist. He was also Principal at Barclays Global Investors, then the largest asset manager in the world, in San Francisco from 2008-2009. He has won the Ig Nobel prize in Management in 2015, a prize given for research that makes you laugh and then think about it, one of the only 2 Cambridge professors to have done so. He is a research member of the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) and the Cambridge Corporate Governance Network (CCGN).

Previous appointments

Professor Rau has taught at a number of universities around the world, including the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences PO), Université Paris-Dauphine, Indian School of Business, Purdue University, the University of California at Los Angeles the University of California at Berkeley and most recently, Duke University.

Selected publications

Ran, Z., Rau, P.R. and Ziegler, T. (2024) “Sometimes, always, never: regulatory clarity and the development of digital financing.” Management Science (forthcoming)
Cheung, Y., Rau, P.R. and Stouraitis, A. (2021) “What determines the return to bribery? Evidence from corruption cases worldwide.” Management Science, 67(10): 6235-6265 (available online via the SSRN)
Dai, Y., Rau, P.R., Stouraitis, A. and Tan, W. (2020) “An ill wind? Terrorist attacks and CEO compensation.” Journal of Financial Economics, 135(2): 379-398 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2019.06.005) (available online via the SSRN)
Chu, J., Faasse, J. and Rau, P.R. (2018) “Do compensation consultants enable higher CEO pay? A disclosure rule change as a separating device.” Management Science, 64(10): 4915-4935 (DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2017.2845) (available online via the SSRN)
Bernile, G., Bhagwat, V. and Rau, P.R. (2017) “What doesn’t kill you will only make you more risk-loving: early-life disasters and CEO behavior.” Journal of Finance, 72(1): 167–206 (DOI: 10.1111/jofi.12432) (available online via the SSRN)
Mola, S., Rau, P.R. and Khorana, A. (2013) “Is there life after the complete loss of analyst coverage?” The Accounting Review, 88(2): 667-705 (DOI: 10.2308/accr-50330)
Rau, P.R. and Xu, J. (2013) “How do ex ante severance pay contracts fit into optimal executive incentive schemes?” Journal of Accounting Research, 51(3): 631-671 (DOI: 10.1111/joar.12001)

Many of Professor Rau’s papers are available via the Social Science Research Network.

Journal articles

Lei, Z., Petmezas, D., Rau, P.R. and Yang, C. (2025) “Born to behave: home CEOs and financial misconduct.” Review of Accounting Studies (DOI: 10.1007/s11142-025-09870-y) (published online Feb 2025) (available online via the SSRN)
Lei, Z., Petmezas, D., Rau, P.R. and Yang, C. (2025) “Local boy does good: the effect of CSR activities on firm value.” Journal of Banking and Finance (DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2025.107398) (published online Jan 2025)
Macias, A.J., Rau, P.R. and Stouraitis, A. (2025) “Solving serial acquirer puzzles.” Review of Corporate Finance Studies (DOI: 10.1093/rcfs/cfad015) (published online Jul 2023)
Ran, Z., Rau, R. and Ziegler, T. (2025) “Sometimes, always, never: regulatory clarity and the development of digital financing.” Management Science (available online via the SSRN) (forthcoming)
Rau, P.R., Sandvik, J. and Vermaelen, T. (2024) “IPO price formation and board gender diversity.” Journal of Corporate Finance, 88: 102629 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2024.102629)
Rau, P.R. and Yu, T. (2024) “A survey on ESG: investors, institutions, and firms.” China Finance Review International, 14(1): 3-33 (DOI: 10.1108/CFRI-12-2022-0260)
Cornelli, G., Frost, J., Gambacorta, L., Rau, P.R., Wardrop, R. and Ziegler, T. (2023) “Fintech and big tech credit: drivers of the growth of digital lending.” Journal of Banking and Finance, 148: 106742 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2022.106742)
Limbach, P., Rau, P.R. and Schürmann, H. (2023) “The decline of trust across the US finance industry.” Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 213: 324-344 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2023.07.006)
An, J. and Rau, R. (2021) “Finance, technology and disruption.” European Journal of Finance, 27(4-5): 334-345 (DOI: 10.1080/1351847X.2019.1703024)
Betzer, A., Limbach, P., Rau, P.R. and Schürmann, H. (2021) “Till death (or divorce) do us part: early-life family disruption and investment behavior.” Journal of Banking and Finance, 124: 106057 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2021.106057) (also available online via the SSRN)

Cheung, Y., Rau, P.R. and Stouraitis, A. (2021) “What determines the return to bribery? Evidence from corruption cases worldwide.” Management Science, 67(10): 6235-6265 (available online via the SSRN)
Cheung, Y., Rau, P.R., Stouraitis, A. and Tan, W. (2021) “Does the market understand the ex ante risk of expropriation by controlling shareholders?” Journal of Corporate Finance, 68: 101946 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2021.101946)
Dai, Y., Rau, P.R., Stouraitis, A. and Tan, W. (2020) “An ill wind? Terrorist attacks and CEO compensation.” Journal of Financial Economics, 135(2): 379-398 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2019.06.005) (available online via the SSRN)
Rahaman, M.M., Rau, P.R. and Al Zaman, A. (2020) “The effect of supply chain power on bank financing.” Journal of Banking and Finance, 114: 105801 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2020.105801)
Chu, J., Faasse, J. and Rau, P.R. (2018) “Do compensation consultants enable higher CEO pay? A disclosure rule change as a separating device.” Management Science, 64(10): 4915-4935 (DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2017.2845) (available online via the SSRN)
Glushkov, D., Khorana, A., Rau, P.R. and Zhang, J. (2018) “Why do firms go public through debt instead of equity?” Critical Finance Review, 7(1): 85-110 (DOI: 10.1561/104.00000057)
Phillips, B., Pukthuanthong, K. and Rau, P.R. (2018) “Size doesn’t matter: diseconomies of scale in the mutual fund industry revisited.” Journal of Banking and Finance, 64(10): 4915-4935 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2017.12.005)
Bernile, G., Bhagwat, V. and Rau, P.R. (2017) “What doesn’t kill you will only make you more risk-loving: early-life disasters and CEO behavior.” Journal of Finance, 72(1): 167–206 (DOI: 10.1111/jofi.12432) (available online via the SSRN)
Helmers, C., Patnam, M. and Rau, P.R. (2017) “Do board interlocks increase innovation? Evidence from a corporate governance reform in India.” Journal of Banking and Finance, 80: 51-70 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2017.04.001)
Rau, R. (2017) “Executive compensation.” Foundations and Trends in Finance, 10(3-4): 181-362 (DOI: 10.1561/0500000046)
Rau, R. (2017) “Social networks and financial outcomes.” Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 18: 75-78 (DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.08.010)
Namvar, E., Phillips, B., Pukthuanthong, K. and Rau, P.R. (2016) “Do hedge funds dynamically manage systematic risk?” Journal of Banking and Finance, 64: 1-5 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2015.11.014)
Phillips, B., Pukthuanthong, K. and Rau, P.R. (2016) “Past performance may be an illusion: performance, flows, and fees in mutual funds.” Critical Finance Review, 5(2): 351-398 (DOI: 10.1561/104.00000032) (available online via the SSRN)
Phillips, B., Pukthuanthong, K. and Rau, P.R. (2014) “Detecting superior mutual fund managers: evidence from copycats.” Review of Asset Pricing Studies, 4(2): 286-321 (DOI: 10.1093/rapstu/rau007)
Mola, S., Rau, P.R. and Khorana, A. (2013) “Is there life after the complete loss of analyst coverage?” The Accounting Review, 88(2): 667-705 (DOI: 10.2308/accr-50330)
Rau, P.R. and Xu, J. (2013) “How do ex ante severance pay contracts fit into optimal executive incentive schemes?” Journal of Accounting Research, 51(3): 631-671 (DOI: 10.1111/joar.12001)
Rau, P.R., Bigelli, M. and Mehrotra, V. (2011) “Why are shareholders not paid to give up their voting privileges? Unique evidence from Italy.” Journal of Corporate Finance, 17(5): 1619-1635 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2011.09.005)
Rau, P.R. and Stouraitis, A. (2011) “Patterns in the timing of corporate event waves.” Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 46(1): 209-246 (DOI: 10.1017/S0022109010000694)
Cheung, Y.-L., Rau, P.R. and Stouraitis, A. (2010) “Helping hand or grabbing hand? Central vs. local government shareholders in Chinese listed firms.” Review of Finance, 14(4): 669-694 (DOI: 10.1093/rof/rfp024)
Cheung, Y.L., Jing, L.H., Lu, T. and Rau, P.R. (2009) “Tunneling and propping up: an analysis of related party transactions by Chinese listed companies.” Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, 17(3): 372-393
Cheung, Y.L., Qi, Y.H., Rau, P.R. et al (2009) “Buy high, sell low: how listed firms price asset transfers in related party transactions.” Journal of Banking and Finance, 33(5): 914-924 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2008.10.002)
Bris, A., Gulen, H., Kadiyala, P. and Rau, P.R. (2007) “Good stewards, cheap talkers, or family men? The impact of mutual fund closures on fund managers, flows, fees, and performance.” Review of Financial Studies, 20(3): 953-982
Clarke, J., Khorana, A., Patel, A. and Rau, P.R. (2007) “The impact of all-star analyst job changes on their coverage choices and investment banking deal flow.” Journal of Financial Economics, 84(3): 713-737
Cheung, Y.-L., Rau, P.R. and Stouraitis, A. (2006) “Tunneling, propping, and expropriation: evidence from connected party transactions in Hong Kong.” Journal of Financial Economics, 82(2): 343-386
Cooper, M.J., Gulen, H. and Rau, P.R. (2005) “Changing names with style: mutual fund name changes and their effects on fund flows.” Journal of Finance, 60(6): 2825-2858
Cooper, M.J., Khorana, A., Osobov, I. and Rau, P.R. (2005) “Managerial actions in response to a market downturn: valuation effects of name changes in the dot.com decline.” Journal of Corporate Finance, 11(1-2): 319-335 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2004.02.005)
Kadiyala, P. and Rau, P.R. (2004) “Investor reaction to corporate event announcements: underreaction or overreaction?” The Journal of Business, 77(2): 357-386
Rau, P.R. and Vermaelen, T. (2002) “Regulation, taxes, and share repurchases in the United Kingdom.” The Journal of Business, 75(2): 245-282
Cooper, M.J., Dimitrov, O. and Rau, P.R. (2001) “A rose.com by any other name.” Journal of Finance, 56(6): 2371-2388
Rau, P.R. (2000) “Investment bank market share, contingent fee payments, and the performance of acquiring firms.” Journal of Financial Economics, 56(2): 293-324
Rau, P.R. and Vermaelen, T. (1998) “Glamour, value and the post-acquisition performance of acquiring firms.” Journal of Financial Economics, 49(2): 223-253

Awards and honours

Cambridge Judge Business School Teaching Award, 2022, 2025
Distinguished Alumnus Award, Indian Institute of Management, 2022
FMA Competitive Paper in Corporate Finance Award for the paper “Do compensation consultants enable higher CEO pay? New evidence from recent disclosure rule changes”, 2015
Ig Nobel Prize in Management for the paper “What doesn’t kill you will only make you more risk-loving: early life disasters and CEO behavior”, 2015
International Finance & Banking Society best paper in conference award for the paper “What doesn’t kill you will only make you more risk-loving: early life disasters and CEO behavior”, 2015
Keynes Senior Fellowship, 2014
Club 7 Member, Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley (for teaching excellence, based on student evaluations), 2009, 2010, 2018
The Chinese Finance Association Best Paper in Corporate Finance Award, 2008
Runner-Up, Salgo-Noren Teaching Award for Outstanding MBA Teacher of the Year, Purdue University, 2007
Dean’s Outstanding MBA Core Course Teaching Award, Purdue University, 2005, 2007
Institute for Quantitative Research in Finance (Q Group) Award, 2003
Chicago Quantitative Alliance Award, 2002
School of Management Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award, Purdue University, 2001
John and Mary Willis Young Faculty Scholar Award, 2001
EFA Barclays Global Investor Award, 2000
Krannert Faculty Fellow Award, 1999
FMA “Best of the Best” Award, 1996
FMA Competitive Award for Business Finance, 1996
Indian Institute of Management Merit Scholarship, 1988
Delhi University Merit Scholarship, 1987
National Talent Merit Scholar, India, 1982

News and insights

CEOs near hometowns less likely to commit misdeeds

There are many research gaps on why executives engage in financial misconduct. Research by Professor Raghavendra Rau helps plug those holes, finding that CEOs who run firms near their hometowns are less likely to engage in accounting fraud, insider trading and other misdeeds.

Finance and accounting

Why markets don’t anticipate prolific acquirers

Solving the puzzle of why the markets don’t anticipate and punish serial acquirers: new study classifies acquirers as loners, sprinters, occasional acquirers and marathoners to help predict future activity.

Leadership and organisational behaviour

CEOs: the risks they take may be influenced before birth

A just-completed study entitled “Hazed and Confused” finds a clear effect decades later on CEOs who had prenatal exposure to toxic U.S. “Superfund” sites as designated by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which are typically the most hazardous contaminated sites in the U.S. such as landfills, mining sites and manufacturing plants, with EPA documents showing that most of them were actively polluted for decades over the 20th Century.

Media coverage

FS Tech | 4 April 2023

The end for Britain’s illegal crypto ATMs?

Raghavendra Rau, Sinyi Professor of Chinese Management at Cambridge Judge Business School, is featured in this article about crypto ATMs.

Toutiao | 11 June 2022

Beijing-collar guests – Tenured Chair Professor of Finance at the University of Cambridge interprets education and financial innovation

Raghavendra Rau, Professor of Finance at Cambridge Judge Business School, delivered a speech at the Jingling Nobel Prize Innovation Forum and International School Award Ceremony, providing an in-depth interpretation of innovation in the field of education and finance.

Vice | 2 June 2022