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’m the President-Elect of the Financial Management Association, and the Gresham Professor of Business at Gresham College. 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.

Professional experience

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, among others. Professor Rau was Vice-President of the Financial Management Association in 2023 and currently serves as President-Elect of the association. In 2014, he served as President of the European Finance Association, as well as Vice-President in 2013. He held the 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 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 member of 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.

Publications

Selected publications

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

Journal articles

Awards and honours

  • Cambridge Judge Business School Teaching Award, 2022
  • 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

CEO speaking to colleagues.

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.

Crowds of people in a futuristic city.

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.

CEO discussion.

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

The pivot to Web3 is going to get people hurt

Raghavendra (Raghu) Rau, Sir Evelyn de Rothschild Professor of Finance at Cambridge Judge Business School, is mentioned in this article about Web3.

Top