Scientia Professor Ronald Masulis

Scientia Professor Ronald Masulis

Professor
  • Past President Financial Management Association International (FMA)
  • Research Associate, European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)
  • Senior Academic Fellow, Asian Bureau of Finance and Research (ABFER)
  • PhD, MBA, University of Chicago
  • BA (High Hons), Northeastern University
Business School
School of Banking and Finance

Research Interests:

  • Corporate governance
  • Corporate Finance
  • Venture Capital
  • M&A and International Finance

Ron Masulis is the Scientia Professor of Finance at the UNSW Business School, University of New South Wales. Ron received his MBA and PhD from the University of Chicago. He is a recognised authority in the areas of empirical corporate finance and corporate governance. His published research spans investment banking, financial institutions, market microstructure, international finance, private equity, law and economics and corporate governance topics such as mergers and acquisitions, boards of directors, executive compensation, ownership structure and business groups.


Among financial economists worldwide, he has one of the highest sustained rates of top tier publications and frequency of citations across a range of top journals including the Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Finance, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Accounting and Economics and Journal of Law and Economics.


Ron has won a number of top research awards, including five Journal of Financial Economics All Star Paper Awards. He is the President-Elect of the Financial Management Association. He has served on the Board of Directors/Executive Committee of the American Finance Association, the Western Finance Association and the Financial Management Association (FMA).  He has served as the FMA’s Vice President of Global Services and FMA's Vice President of the 2018 Program.  Ron also recently served on the board of directors of the Financial Intermediation Research Society (FIRS), was an advisory editor of Financial Management and is currently an advisory editor of the Journal of Multinational Financial Management, an associate editor of the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, the Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, the Journal of Financial Stability and is a past associate editor of the Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Finance and Review of Financial Studies

 

Ron is a research associate at the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) and senior academic fellow at the Asia Bureau of Finance and Economic Research and a fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. In February 2015, he was the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Term Professor of Economics and Finance at NUS and from September -December 2015. He was a Distinguished Visiting Research Professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business and in the 2 half of 2018 he was the Pembroke visiting Professor of International Finance at the University of Cambridge.

 

Personal website

Phone
+61 2 9385 5860
Location
UNSW Business School - Ref E12 Level 3, Office 354

Research Grants:

  • Governance and the investment performance of not-for-profit endownments

          ARC Linkage Grant LP160100956, 2016 in collaboration with Credit Suisse AG and the University of Mannheim.

          Dates: 2016-2022

          Investigators: Professors Ron Masulis and Jerry Parwada, and Associate Professor Kingsley Fong with Mr Nigel Renton and Professor Ernst Maug

          Grant Amount: $169,000

  • Do wealth creating mergers and acquisitions really hurt acquirer shareholders?

          ARC Discovery Grant 2012 DP120102485

          Dates: 2011-2014

          Investigators: Professor Peter L Swan, Professor Ronald W Masulis

          Grant Amount: $230,000

  • Ownership linkage and the functioning of inter-firm capital markets during the Global Financial Crisis

          ARC Discovery Grant 2012 DP120104488

          Dates: 2011-2014

          Investigators: Professor Ronald W Masulis, Associate Professors Kien Peter Pham and Jason Zein

          Grant amount: $100,000

  • The Subversion of Contemporary Performance-Based Pay: A Comparative Australian US Study

          ARC Discovery Grant DP0665461

          Dates: 2005-2007

          Investigators: Professor Jennifer Hill, Ronald Masulis and Randall Thomas

          Grant Amount: $210,000

 

Awards and Honors:

  • 2022 Program Co-Chair, Asia-Pacific Financial Management Association Meetings
  • 2018 Best Corporate Finance Paper, Capital Markets and Corporate Governance Conference, Melbourne
  • 2018 Program Chair, SFS Asia-Pacific Cavalcade, Singapore
  • 2018 Elected Vice President, Annual Program, Financial Management Association
  • 2017 Australian Graduate School of Management Scholar
  • 2017 Vice Program Chair, SFS Asia-Pacific Cavalcade, Beijing
  • 2017 Securities & Exchange Commission Research Fellow
  • 2015 Winner of the Emerald Citation of Excellence Award
  • 2014 Fellow, Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA)
  • 2014 - 2017 Academic Director: Financial Intermediation Research Society (FIRS)
  • 2013 - 2017 Macquarie Group Chair of Financial Services
  • 2013 - 2015 Vice President of Global Services, Financial Management Association 
  • 2013 - 2015 Vice President of Global Services, Financial Management Association
  • 2012 Senior Academic Fellow, Asia Bureau of Finance and Economic Research
  • 2011 -  Present Scientia Professor
  • 2011 Best Corporate Finance Paper Award, 2nd Annual Finance and Corporate Governance Conference, Melbourne
  • 2009 Best Paper in Corporate Finance Award, European FMA Meetings
  • 2009 Research Associate, European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)
  • 2007 Hana Bank Best Paper Award, 2nd Int'l Conference on Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Seoul
  • 2006 Journal of Financial Economics All Star Paper Awards (5 papers)
  • 2006 Brattle Prize Nomination (Best Corporate Finance Paper Published in the Journal of Finance)
  • 2005 Australian Research Council Grant
  • 2005 Financial Economists Roundtable
  • 2003 Research Impact Award, Vanderbilt University
  • 1996 Webb Award for Teaching Excellence, Vanderbilt University
  • 1995 and 1998 Dean's Award for Teaching Excellence, Vanderbilt University
  • 1985 Institute for Quantitative Research in Finance, Roger Murray Prize Competition
  • 1979 - 1980 Securities and Exchange Commission Research Fellowship

 

Book

The Debt‑Equity Choice, Institutional Investor Series in Finance, Ballinger Press, 1988.

Engagement Activities

  • President: Financial Management Association International 2020-2021
  • Board of Directors/Executive Committees:

          Financial Intermediation Research Society, 2015 – 2017         

          Financial Management Association, 2005-2007, 2013-2015, 2016

          American Finance Association, 1988 – 1990

          Western Finance Association, 1988 – 1990

Advisory Editor:

  • Pacific Basin Finance Journal, 2021-Current
  • Journal of Multinational Financial Management, 2015-Current
  • Financial Management, 2012 -2016

Associate Editor:

  • Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 1985-Current
  • Journal of Financial Stability, 2019-Current
  • Pacific Basin Finance Journal, 2006-2021
  • Journal of Finance, 1985-1988, 1993-2000
  • Review of Financial Studies, 1987-1989
  • Journal of Financial Economics, 1987-1990
  • Journal of Financial Intermediation, 1989-1995
  • Journal of Financial Research, 1991-1999
  • Journal of Corporate Finance, 1993-2001

Special Issue Co-Editor:

  • Financial Management, "Market Microstructure and Corporate Finance," Winter 1992.
  • Pacific Basin Finance Journal, "Economic Advantages of Family Firms," 2017-2019

Senior Academic Fellow:

  • Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research (ABFER) 2013-current

Research Associate:

  • European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI), 2009-current

Professional Association Officer:

  • Elected Vice President, 2018 Program,Financial Management Association
  • 2017 SFS Asian Finance Cavalcade, Vice Chair
  • 2018 SFS Asian Finance Cavalcade, chair

Guest Contributor:

  • Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog on Corporations and the Capital Markets, 2013 – current
  • Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation, 2010 – current

Annual Meetings and Conference Program Committees:

    • American Finance Association Meetings: 2015, 2012, 2003, 1998, 1995, 1994, 1991, 1990
    • FMA Asian Conference: 2009 – 2016
    • Western Finance Association: 1990-1997, 2005 – 2018
    • European Finance Association: 2022, 2021, 2019, 2011 – 2017, 1997, 1996
    • Financial Management Association: 2021, 2006 – 2019
    • China International Conference in Finance 2010 – 2019
    • ISB Summer Research Conference in Finance 2012 – 2021
    • Financial Intermediation Research Society Annual Meetings 2011 – 2018
    • ASU Sonoran Winter Finance Conference, 2014 – 2019
    • University of Kentucky Finance Conference, 2016 – 2019
    • Annual Cass MARC Academic Conference, 2022, 2021, 2019, 2017, 2016
    • Indonesian Finance Association Annual Conference, 2018
    • Australasian Banking and Finance Conference, 2017, 2009 – 2015
    • Asian Finance Association Conference, 2016, 2008 – 2012
    • Washington University Conference on Corporate Finance, 2007 – 2010
    • EFM Symposium on Corporate Governance and Control, 2009
    • EFM Symposium on Corporate Governance, 2009
    • EFMA Symposium on Asian Finance, 2010
    • FMA Doctoral Symposium, Panelist, 2007, 1994
    • FMA Doctoral Symposium, Chair 2005
    • European FMA Doctoral Symposium, Panelist 2009
    • Conference of Empirical Legal Studies Annual Meeting, 2010 – 2012
    • Singapore International Finance Conference, 2011 – 2012
    • FMA Asia PhD Consortium 2011, 2012, Coordinator 2017
    • FMA Asia/Pacific Conference Co-Chair, Sydney 2016
    • SFS Finance Cavalcade 2011
    • Symposium in Financial Economics, Hong Kong, 2019
    • Vietnam International Conference in Finance, 2016
    • FIRS PhD Program, Co-Chair, Hong Kong 2017
    • Co-Chair FIRN Corporate Finance Workshop Sydney, 2016

My Research Supervision

Jinzhao Du, (chair) School of Banking and Finance, UNSW, 2018-

June Chan (chair) School of Banking and Finance, UNSW, 2020-

My Teaching

  • 2010 - 2022 Empirical Corporate Governance (FINS5581)
  • 2020 - 2022 Finance Research in Practice (FINS5590)
  • 2010 - 2014, 2016-2017, 2019 Takeovers, Restructuring and Corporate Governance (FINS5538)