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Shashwat Alok
Associate Professor, Finance
Research Director, Digital Identity Research Initiative (DIRI)
Email shashwat_alok@isb.edu
Website http://www.shashwatalok.com
Overview
Professor Alok is an Associate Professor of Finance. He joined ISB in 2013 after receiving his Ph.D. in Finance from Olin Business School, Washington University in St Louis. He is currently the Research Director at the Digital Identity Research Initiative.
His primary research interests are in the areas of Corporate finance. In particular, his research focuses on understanding the impact of the law, government policy, and institutions on firms and individual behavior with a greater focus on emerging markets. His recent work seeks to examine the role of alternative data and Fintech in expanding financial inclusion and the impact of climate change on firms and capital allocation.
He is the recipient of multiple prestigious grants, and his work has been accepted at leading international conferences such as those hosted by the American Finance Association, the Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research, the European Finance Association, and the Financial Intermediation Research Society. His research is published or accepted at top academic journals such as the Review of Financial Studies, the Management Science, and the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis. Prof Alok's research has been cited by the Indian Economic Survey (2018-2019) and the Reserve Bank of India's Household Finance Committee Report (2017). His research has also featured in major Indian media outlets, including the Economic Times and the Times of India.
Before joining the Ph.D. program, Alok graduated from the Manipal University in Computer Science and Engineering amongst the top of the graduating class. He was the recipient of Hubert C. Moog Scholar for academic excellence while pursuing his Ph.D. at the Washington University in St Louis.
Experience
Academic
- 2023 - Present: Associate Professor, Indian School of Business
- 2020 - Present: Research Director, DIRI
- 2013 - 2023: Assistant Professor, Indian School of Business
- 2016 - 2016: Visiting Scholar, Georgetown University
- 2014 - 2014: Visiting Scholar, Washington University in St. Louis
In the Media
April 22, 2022: “Effective and Efficient: The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code", Indian Express.
January 25, 2021: Sell-Off those Doddering PSUs, The Economic Times.
July 10, 2020: Panel Discussion on Covid-19 and Indian Economy, CNN-News18.
July 2, 2020: Covid vs lockdowns: Question of costs, The Hindu -- BusinessLine.
June 30, 2020: Free trade with China is neither free nor trade, Livemint.
June 3, 2020: Moody's Swing Has its own Bias, The Economic Times.
May 1, 2020: “Covid-19 lockdown: It's not the economy vs lives, it's lives vs lives", Fortune India.
September , 2020: Doing Good by Being Profitable, The Economic Times.
April 10, 2017: Banking the unbanked: Measuring the success of JDY, World Bank Blog.
March 30, 2017: Is the World’s Largest Public Workfare Programme Crowding Out Private Employment, ISB Insight.
January , 2017: MGNREGA-IndiaTV Paisa, .
September , 2017: The Admirable Success of Jan Dhan Yojana, Livemint.
March 11, 2017: Banking the unbanked: Is the NDA govt's Flagship initiative Jan Dhan Yojana bearing fruit on the ground?", Times of India.
January 3, 2017: Is MGNREGA destroying factory jobs? Disquieting data shows it discourages skill development., Economic Times.
March , 2017: Is the NDA government's flagship initiative Jan Dhan Yojana bearing fruit on the ground?", The Economic Times.
January 7, 2017: Lok Manch: An Examination of MNREGA, Lok Sabha TV, January 9, 2017.
January 6, 2017: MGNREGAs easy jobs may have harmed Indias manufacturing sector by luring away skilled factory workers, Quartz India.
October 3, 2014: Drop in Trade deficit: Much ado about something?, IBN Live.
April 27, 2014: PSUs: Prudent Investors or Political Pawns?, The Times of India.
April 27, 2014: PSUs: Prudent Investors or Political Pawns?, The Economic Times.
Research & Publications
Published Papers
Alok, Shashwat., Subramanian, Krishnamurthy. () "“Does Strengthening the Property Rights of Employee Inventors Spur Innovation? Empirical Evidence on “Freedom to Create” Laws Passed by U.S. States”", Journal of Law and Economics Alok, Shashwat., Chaurey, Ritam., Nukala, Vasudha. (2022) "Creditor Rights, Threat of Liquidation, and Labor-Capital Choice of Firms", Journal of Law and Economics , 65 (4) Agarwal, Sumit., Alok, Shashwat., Chopra, yakshup., Tantri, Prasanna. (2021) "Government Employment Guarantee, Labor Supply, and Firms' Reaction: Evidence from the Largest Public Workfare Program in the World", Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis , 56 (2), 409-442 Alok, Shashwat., Kumar, Nitin., Wermers, Russ. (2020) "Do Fund Managers Misestimate Climatic Disaster Risk?", Review of Financial Studies , 33 (3), 1146–1183 Alok, Shashwat., Ayyagari, Meghana. (2020) "Politics, State Ownership, and Corporate Investments", Review of Financial Studies , 33 (7), 3031-3087 Alok, Shashwat., Gopalan, Radhakrishnan. (2017) "Managerial Compensation in Multi-Division firms", Management Science , 64 (6), 2856-2874
Working Papers
Alok, Shashwat., Mannil, N., Tantri, Prasanna. "Government Ownership or Quid Pro Quo? What Causes Political Capture of Banks" Alok, Shashwat., Agarwal, Sumit., Ghosh, P., Gupta, S. "Financial Inclusion and Alternate Credit Scoring: Role of Big Data and Machine Learning in Fintech" Agarwal, Sumit., Alok, Shashwat., Dixit, Shiv., Velayudhan, Tejaswi. "Impact of the GST on Corporate Tax Evasion: Evidence from Indian Tax Records" Alok, Shashwat., Agarwal, Sumit., Ghosh, Pulak., Ghosh, Saumya., Piskorski, Tomasz., Seru, Amit. "Banking the Unbanked: What do 280 Million New Bank Accounts Reveal about Financial Access?" Alok, Shashwat., Kashyap, Nishant., Voleti, Sudhir. "Neither Purpose Nor Profit: Evidence from Climate conversations during earnings calls"