Scott Weisbenner
Associate Professor of Finance University of Illinois (with tenure) & James F. Towey Faculty Fellow
Research Associate NBER
Editor, Journal of Pension Economics and Finance
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Department of Finance
340 Wohlers Hall, MC-706
1206 South Sixth Street
Champaign, IL 61820
Phone: (217) 333-0872
Fax: (217) 244-9867
E-mail: weisbenn@illinois.edu
Research Interests:
Household Portfolio Choice
Pension Plans
Corporate Finance
Teaching Interests:
Corporate Finance
Behavioral Finance
Education:
Ph.D., Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, May 1999
B.A., Economics and Mathematics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, May 1995
Citation Count
ISI Web of Science (citations in published, refereed journals listed in the Social Sciences Citation Index) = 194 (as of October 2009)
Google Scholar (citations in published, forthcoming, and working papers) = 1008 (as of October 2009)
Journal Publications & Forthcoming Papers
All articles are the sole copyright of the respective publishers. Materials are provided for educational use only.
“Executive
Financial Incentives and Payout Policy:
Firm Responses to the 2003 Dividend Tax Cut,” (with Jeffrey R. Brown
and Nellie Liang),
“Information Diffusion Effects in Individual
Investors’ Common Stock Purchases: Covet
Thy Neighbors’ Investment Choices,” (with Zoran
“401(k) Matching Contributions in Company Stock – Costs and Benefits for Firms and Workers,” (with Jeffrey R. Brown and Nellie Liang), Journal of Public Economics, Vol. 90, 2006, p. 1315-1346.
“Tax-Motivated
Trading by Individual Investors,” (with Zoran
“Local
Does as Local Is: Information Content of the Geography of Individual
Investors’ Common Stock Investments,” (with Zoran
“Inter-Asset
Differences in Effective Estate Tax Burdens,” (with James M. Poterba), American
Economic Review, Vol.
93, No. 2, 2003, p. 360-365.
“Do
Pension Plans with Participant Investment Choice Teach Households to Hold More
Equity?,” Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Vol. 1, No. 3,
2002, p. 223-248.
“Capital Gains Tax Rules, Tax-Loss Trading, and Turn-of-the-Year Returns,” (with James M. Poterba), Journal of Finance, Vol. 56, No. 1, 2001, p. 353-368.
Publications in Books
“
“Intergenerational Transfers and Savings Behavior,” (with Jeffrey R. Brown), Perspectives on the Economics of Aging, edited by David A. Wise, University of Chicago Press, 2004, 181-201.
“The Distributional Burden of Taxing Estates and Unrealized Capital Gains at Death,” (with James M. Poterba), Rethinking Estate and Gift Taxation, edited by William G. Gale, James R. Hines, and Joel Slemrod, Brookings Institution, 2001, 422-449.
Papers Under Review / Working Papers
“Who Benefits from a Bull Market? An
Analysis of Employee Stock Option Grants and Stock Prices,” (with Nellie Liang),
FEDS Working Paper 2001-57.
“Corporate Share Repurchases in the 1990s: What Role Do Stock Options Play?,” FEDS Working Paper 2000-29.
Work in Progress
Selected Media Coverage (through December 2009)
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “Statement on House Consideration of the Estate Tax,” December 3, 2009.
United Press International, “People work for Money, Not Love of the Job,” August 18, 2009.
Smart Money, “What To Do With $100,000 (by Brad Reagan with Janet Paskin),” March 2008, p. 51.
The Wall Street Journal, “Index Funds Diminish in 401(k)s (by Eleanor Laise),” September 18, 2007, p. D4.
The New York Times, “Neighborly Advice, for Good or Ill (by Mark Hulbert),” July 15, 2007, Section 3, p. 5.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “Coveting thy Neighbor's Portfolio (by David Nicklaus),” July 5, 2007.
The Washington Times, “'Backdating' bunkum (by Alan Reynolds),” March 11, 2007.
The Wall Street Journal Online, “Keeping Up With the Jones's Investments,” July 6, 2007.
CFO Magazine, “Can You Have Your Stock and Sell It, Too? (by Randy Myers),” November 1, 2006.
Minneapolis Star-Tribune, “The Bogus Case Against Estate Taxes: Digging the Hole Deeper with Phony Arguments,” June 4, 2006.
The Washington Post, “At the Top, Pennies Per Share Add Up: Companies Boost Dividends After Tax Cut (by Jonathan Weisman),” April 8, 2005, p. E1.
The Wall Street Journal Online, “Scrooge Scores - Dividend Like Them (by Gene Colter),” December 24, 2004.
Forbes 2005 Investment Guide, “Russian Roulette Investing (by Matthew Swibel),” December 13, 2004, p. 194-196.
The Wall Street Journal, “For Portfolios, Simple May Be Best: Research Finds Investors Fare Better by Purchasing a Few Stocks They Know (by Jane J. Kim),” December 9, 2004, p. D2.
The Philadelphia Inquirer, “Local Focus Aids Mutual Funds (by Porus P. Cooper),” December 9, 2003.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Regional Review, “Local
Restocking (by Brad Hershbein),” Q4-Q1, 2003/4, Vol. 14, No. 1, p. 1-2.
Wall Street Week with Fortune (online), “Profits Begin at Home (by Karen Gibbs),” July 30, 2003.
Chicago Tribune, “Homing in on Stock Winners: Study Says Local Firms Provide Lift (by Marilyn Kennedy Melia)“, June 24, 2003, Section 3, p.5, 8.
Smart Money, “When to Follow Analysts (by Paul Sturm),” April 14, 2003.
The Washington Post, “Efforts to Restrict Retirement Funds Lose Steam: Indignation Wanes as Congress Considers Limits on Company Stock Holdings (by Jonathan Weisman),” September 7, 2002, p. A1, A10.
The Wall Street Journal, “Don’t Reform 401(k) Accounts Out of Existence (by R. Glenn Hubbard),” February 5, 2002, p. A18.
BusinessWeek Online, “Why the ‘Death Tax’ Should Live (by Christopher Farrell),” January 19, 2001.
U.S. Senate Joint Economic Committee, “Myths About the Estate Tax: Rhetoric versus Reality,” May 17, 2001.
Barron’s, “Early January: The Storied Effect on Small-Cap Stocks Now Arrives in December (by James H. Smalhout),” December 11, 2000, p. 28-30.
The New York Times, “Two Paths to Profit from the January Effect (by Mark Hulbert),” December 3, 2000, Section 3, p. 8.
The Wall Street Journal, “U.S. Study Shows Effect of Choices in Pension Plans (by John Connor),” January 24, 2000.
Teaching Record
Teaches Advanced Corporate Finance in the MBA and undergraduate programs and Behavioral Finance in the MBA program. Teacher ratings (on a five-point scale):
MBA Behavioral Finance, University of Illinois, Fall 2006 (2 sections), mean = 4.9*
MBA Behavioral Finance, University of Illinois, Fall 2005 (1 section), mean = 4.6*
MBA Corporate Finance, University of Illinois, Fall 2009 (2 sections), in progress
MBA Corporate Finance, University of Illinois, Fall 2008 (2 sections), mean = 4.7*
MBA Corporate Finance, University of Illinois, Fall 2006 (2 sections), mean = 4.7*
MBA Corporate Finance, University of Illinois, Fall 2005 (2 sections), mean = 4.6*
MBA Corporate Finance, University of Illinois, Fall 2004 (3 sections), mean = 4.7*
MBA Corporate Finance, University of Illinois, Fall 2003 (2 sections), mean = 4.6*
MBA Corporate Finance, University of Illinois, Fall 2002 (2 sections), mean = 4.3
Undergraduate Corporate Finance, University of Illinois, Fall 2003 (1 section), mean = 4.8**
Undergraduate Corporate Finance, University of Illinois, Fall 2002 (1 section), mean = 4.7*
Undergraduate Corporate Finance, University of Illinois, Spring 2002 (3 sections), mean = 4.5*
No teaching during Fall 2007 due to my sabbatical.
* Made List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent
** Made List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent; Honorable Mention for the 2004 Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and Runner-up for the 2004 College of Business Alumni Association’s Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award