Scott Weisbenner is an associate professor (tenured) in the Department of Finance and a James F. Towey Faculty Fellow.  He earned a Ph.D. in economics from MIT and has been on the Illinois faculty since 2000.  Before coming to Illinois, he worked as an economist for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in the capital markets section.  Professor Weisbenner was a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Research (NBER) from 2002-2009 and has been a Research Associate at the NBER since 2009.  He also will serve as Editor of the Journal of Pension Economics and Finance starting January 2010.

Professor Weisbenner teachers MBA courses in corporate finance and behavioral finance.  His research interests include household portfolio decisions and how they are influenced by taxation and psychological factors, issues concerning retirement saving and pension plans, and corporate financial decisions.  He has published articles in leading finance and economics journals, including The American Economic Review, The Journal of Finance, The Journal of Financial Economics, The Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, The Journal of Public Economics, The Review of Economics and Statistics, and The Review of Financial Studies and his work has been cited in numerous news publications including Barron’s, Business Week, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, Smart Money, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal,  The Washington Post, and The Washington Times.