Research Interests
- Corporate Finance, Corporate Governance, Executive Compensation, Fraud, Insider Trading, Investments, Mergers & Acquisitions
Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh, Finance, 1986
Professor Agrawal’s research deals with topics in Corporate Finance and Investments, such as Corporate Governance, Mergers and Acquisitions, Executive Compensation, Behavioral Corporate Finance, Corporate Innovation, Corporate Fraud, Insider Trading, Security Analysts, and Market Efficiency. He has published nineteen papers in the top journals in Finance, Accounting, and Law and Economics (Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Accounting & Economics, Journal of Law & Economics, Journal of Business, Journal of Financial & Quantitative Analysis, and Review of Asset Pricing Studies); and multiple papers in prominent journals including Economic Theory, Financial Management, Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, Journal of International Money and Finance, and Quarterly Journal of Finance. He has presented his research at seminars and conferences around the world. His research has won several Best Paper awards and received over 20,000 citations in academic papers according to Google Scholar. His research has been featured in the news media such as Business Week, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Congressional Quarterly CQ Roll Call, Corporate Library News Briefs, Motley Fool, SmartMoney, Yahoo! Finance, and in Columbia Law School Blue Sky blog, Harvard Law School Corporate Governance blog and NYU Law School Compliance & Enforcement blog. He has been a visiting faculty member at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is the winner of the 2021 Burnum Distinguished Professor Award at the University of Alabama.
Dr. Agrawal has served on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Corporate Finance and eight other academic journals. He served as a Director of the Financial Management Association during 2009-2011; and Corporate Finance Track Chair at the FMA annual meetings in 2019, 2018, 2012, 2010, and 2004, and as Eastern Finance Assn in 2021. Before coming to academia, he worked for two years with an international management consulting firm.
“Where Do Shareholder Gains in Hedge Fund Activism Come From? Evidence from Employee Pension Plans.” (With Y. Lim.) Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis. September 2022.
“Unintended Consequences of the Dodd-Frank Act on Credit Rating Risk and Corporate Finance.” (With B. Sharma, B. K. Adhikari, B. R. Arthur and M. K. Rabarison.) Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis. Forthcoming. 2022.
“Is Positive Sentiment in Corporate Annual Reports Informative? Evidence from Deep Learning.” (With M. Azimi.) Review of Asset Pricing Studies. Forthcoming. 2021.
“Do Women Managers Keep Firms Out of Trouble? Evidence from Corporate Litigation and Policies.” (With B. Adhikari and J. Malm.) Journal of Accounting and Economics. February 2019.
“Common Advisors in Mergers and Acquisitions: Determinants and Consequences.” (With T. Cooper, Q. Lian, and Q. Wang.) Journal of Law and Economics. August 2013.
“Do Analyst Conflicts Matter? Evidence from Stock Recommendations.” (With M. Chen.) Journal of Law and Economics. August 2008.
“Who is Afraid of Reg FD? The Behavior and Performance of Sell-side Analysts Following the SEC’s Fair Disclosure Rules.” (With S. Chadha and M. Chen.) Journal of Business. November 2006.
“Corporate Governance and Accounting Scandals.” (With S. Chadha.) Journal of Law and Economics. October 2005.
“Do Takeover Targets Under-perform? Evidence from Operating and Stock Returns.” (With J. Jaffe.) Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis. December 2003.
“Do Some Outside Directors Play a Political Role?” (With C. Knoeber.) Journal of Law and Economics. April 2001.
“Management Turnover and Corporate Governance Changes Following the Revelation of Fraud.” (With J. Jaffe and J. Karpoff.) Journal of Law and Economics. April 1999.
“Managerial Compensation and the Threat of Takeover.” (With C. Knoeber.) Journal of Financial Economics. February 1998.
“Firm Performance and Mechanisms to Control Agency Problems between Managers and Shareholders.” (With C. Knoeber.) Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis. September 1996.