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Profile
Erwan Morellec is a Full Professor of Finance at the Swiss Finance Institute (SFI) @ EPFL. His is also the Head of the SFI nation-wide PhD Program and a CEPR Research Fellow.
Erwan is most active in the areas of corporate finance and banking and has taught several courses on these subjects to undergraduate, MBA, and doctoral students. He is an expert on financing decisions, real options, risk management, liquidity management, and credit risk. His research has been presented at major academic conferences and seminar series around the world and is published in top rated academic journals such as the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial Economics, and the Review of Financial Studies. He has received several research and teaching awards. He holds a PhD in Finance summa cum Laude from HEC Paris.
Journal articles
Short-term debt and incentives for risk-taking
with Marco Della Seta and Francesca Zucchi, Journal of Financial Economics, Forthcoming.
Agency conflicts and short- vs. long-termism in corporate policies
with Sebastian Gryglewicz and Simon Mayer, Journal of Financial Economics, Forthcoming.
Product market competition and option prices
with Alexei Zhdanov, Review of Financial Studies, Forthcoming.
Agency conflicts around the world
with Boris Nikolov and Norman Schuerhoff, Review of Financial Studies, 31(11): 4232-4287, 2018.
Bank capital,liquid reserves, and insolvency risk (Online appendix)
with Julien Hugonnier, Journal of Financial Economics, 125(2): 266–285, 2017.
Corporate policies with permanent and transitory shocks
with Jean-Paul Décamps, Sebastian Gryglewicz, and Stéphane Villeneuve, Review of Financial Studies, 30(1): 162-210, 2017.
Debt enforcement, investment, and risk-taking across countries
with Giovanni Favara, Enrique Schroth, and Philip Valta, Journal of Financial Economics,123(1): 22-41, 2017.
Capital supply uncertainty, cash holdings and investment (Online appendix)
with Julien Hugonnier and Semyon Malamud, Review of Financial Studies, 28(2): 391–445, 2015.
Credit market frictions and capital structure dynamics (Online appendix)
with Julien Hugonnier and Semyon Malamud, Journal of Economic Theory, 157: 1130–1158, 2015.
Financing investment: The choice between bonds and bank loans
with Philip Valta and Alexei Zhdanov, Management Science, 61(11): 2580-2602, 2015.
Corporate governance and capital structure dynamics
with Boris Nikolov and Norman Schuerhoff, Journal of Finance, 67(3): 803-848, 2012.
Corporate investment and financing under asymmetric information
with Norman Schuerhoff, Journal of Financial Economics, 99(2): 262-288, 2011.
Dynamic investment and financing under personal taxation
with Norman Schuerhoff, Review of Financial Studies, 23(1): 101-146, 2010.
Financing and takeovers
with Alexei Zhdanov, Journal of Financial Economics, 87(3): 556-581, 2008.
Stock returns in mergers and acquisitions
with Dirk Hackbarth, Journal of Finance, 63(3): 1203-1242, 2008.
Closed-form solutions to stochastic switching problems
with Pascal François, Journal of Mathematical Economics, 44(11): 1072-1083, 2008.
Agency conflicts and risk management
with Clifford W. Smith, Review of Finance, 11(1): 1-23, 2007.
Corporate control and real investment in incomplete markets
with Julien Hugonnier, Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 31(5): 1781-1800, 2007.
Capital structure, credit risk, and macroeconomic conditions
with Dirk Hackbarth and Jianjun Miao, Journal of Financial Economics, 82(3): 519-550, 2006.
On the debt capacity of growth options
with Michael J. Barclay and Clifford W. Smith, Journal of Business, 79(1): 37-59, 2006.
Irreversible investment with regime shifts
with Xin Guo and Jianjun Miao, Journal of Economic Theory, 122(1): 37-59, 2005.
The dynamics of mergers and acquisitions
with Alexei Zhdanov, Journal of Financial Economics, 77(3): 649-672, 2005.
Can managerial discretion explain observed leverage ratios?
Review of Financial Studies, 17(1): 257-294.
Capital structure and asset prices: Some effects of bankruptcy procedures
with Pascal François, Journal of Business, 77(2): 387-411, 2004.
Asset liquidity, capital structure, and secured debt
Journal of Financial Economics, 61(2): 173-206, 2001.
Debt, innovation, and growth
(with Thomas Geelen and Jakub Hajda) Working paper EPFL
Recent empirical studies show that innovative firms heavily rely on debt financing. This paper develops a Schumpeterian growth model in which firms’ dynamic R&D, investment, and financing choices are jointly and endogenously determined to investigate the relation between debt financing and innovation and growth.
Cash flow shocks and financing policies
(with Sebastian Gryglewicz, Loriano Mancini, Enrique Schroth, and Philip Valta) Working paper EPFL
Theory has recently shown that corporate policies are better understood when distinguishing between permanent and transitory cash flow shocks. We devise a novel filter to identify transitory and permanent shocks to firm cash flows and estimate cash flow characteristics using only cash flow data and the theoretical restrictions of a canonical cash flow model. Our estimates of cash flow characteristics are related to firms’ policy choices, such as cash holdings, credit lines usage, and equity issuance as predicted by theory. Firm policies are strongly associated with the interaction (correlation) between short-term and permanent shocks. This interaction is also strongly associated with the firm’s leadership status within its industry.
Principles of Finance
This course is intended to provide a market-oriented framework for analyzing the major types of financial decisions made by corporations. Lectures and readings will provide an introduction to present value techniques, capital budgeting principles and problems, asset valuation, the operation and efficiency of financial markets, the financial decisions of firms, and derivatives. Throughout the class, we will solve problems to enhance our understanding of the covered topics.
Dynamic Corporate Finance (SFI PhD program)
This course is designed to provide a framework for understanding the determinants of corporate financing, dividend, hedging, investment, and compensation policies. The course will provide both an economic analysis of the determinants of each policy and a quantitative analysis of the effects of these determinants. There is no required textbook. Readings will be based on scientific articles. Topics covered: Real options; Dynamic contracting; Dynamic adverse selection; Financing frictions; Dynamic capital structure models with and without commitment; Runs