Shashwat Alok
Shashwat Alok is an Associate Professor of Finance at the Indian School of Business (ISB). He joined ISB in 2013 after receiving his PhD in Finance from the 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 behaviour, 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.
Professor Alok 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 has been published or accepted in top academic journals such as the Review of Financial Studies, 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 PhD programme, he graduated among the top of his class in Computer Science and Engineering from the Manipal University. He was the recipient of the Hubert C. Moog Scholar for academic excellence while pursuing his PhD at the Washington University in St Louis.
- PhD in Finance, Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis, 2013
- MS in Business Administration, Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis, 2012
- B.E. in Computer Science and Engineering, Manipal University, Manipal, 2008
Academic positions
- 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
- Alok, Shashwat., Agarwal, Sumit., Ghosh, Pulak., Gupta, Sudip. (Accepted) "Financial Inclusion and Alternate Credit Scoring: Role of Big Data and Machine Learning in Fintech", Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking
- Alok, Shashwat., Subramanian, Krishnamurthy. (Accepted) "“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) "Creditors’ Rights, Threat of Liquidation, and the Labor and Capital Choices of Firms", Journal of Law and Economics, 65 (4), 635-835
- 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., Ayyagari, Meghana. (2020) "Politics, State Ownership, and Corporate Investments", Review of Financial Studies, 33 (7), 3031-3087
- Alok, Shashwat., Kumar, Nitin., Wermers, Russ. (2020) "Do Fund Managers Misestimate Climatic Disaster Risk?", Review of Financial Studies, 33 (3), 1146–1183
- Alok, Shashwat., Gopalan, Radhakrishnan. (2018) "Managerial Compensation in Multi-Division firms", Management Science, 64 (6), 2856-2874
- April 22, 2022: “Effective and Efficient: The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code", Indian Express.
- January 25, 2021: Sell-Off those Doddering PSUs, The Economic Times.
- September , 2020: Doing Good by Being Profitable, 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 , 2017: The Admirable Success of Jan Dhan Yojana, Livemint.
- April 10, 2017: Banking the unbanked: Measuring the success of JDY, World Bank Blog.
- March , 2017: Is the NDA government's flagship initiative Jan Dhan Yojana bearing fruit on the ground?", The Economic Times.
- March 30, 2017: Is the World’s Largest Public Workfare Programme Crowding Out Private Employment, ISB Insight.
- 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 , 2017: MGNREGA-IndiaTV Paisa, .
- 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.
- January 3, 2017: Is MGNREGA destroying factory jobs? Disquieting data shows it discourages skill development., Economic Times.
- October 03, 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.
