Dr. Prabhala is the Francis J. Carey, Jr. Endowed Professor in Business and Professor of Finance with the Carey Business School. His primary research interests are in empirical corporate finance and financial intermediation. Prior to joining Carey, Prabhala was Professor and head of the finance area at University of Maryland, College Park. Prabhala also has served as research head at CAFRAL, Reserve Bank of India, and has taught at Indian School of Business, National University of Singapore, and Yale School of Management. His recent research focuses on using spatial methods to understand competition between firms, between actively managed funds, and in the venture capital industry. In addition, he has studied director elections and diversity in boards of directors, the FinTech areas of peer to peer lending and robo-advising, the adoption of FinTech by individuals and banks, and several issues in banking including bank runs, monetary transmission, creditor rights, and bank financing of small firms.
Education
- Ph. D, Finance, Stern School of Business - New York University
- MBA, Finance and Strategy, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
- BS, Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi
Research
Selected publications
- “Do Programs Mandating Small Business Lending Disincentivize Growth? Evidence From a Policy Experiment.” Coauthored with Prasanna Tantri and Gursharan Bhue.
- “Bank Accounts for the Unbanked: Evidence from a Big Bang Experiment.” Working Paper. Coauthored with Yakshup Chopra and Prasanna Tantri.
- “The Relationship Dilemma: Organizational Culture and The Adoption of Credit Scoring Technology in Indian Banks.” Working Paper, Coauthored with Prachi Mishra and Raghuram Rajan.
- “Buy-Side Competition and Momentum Profits.” Working Paper. Coauthored with Jerry Hoberg and Nitin Kumar.
- “Venture Capital Communities” Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis forthcoming. Coauthored with Amit Bubna and Sanjiv Das.
- “The Promises and Pitfalls of Robo Advising,” 2019, Review of Financial Studies 32(5), 1983-2020. Coauthored with Francesco D'Acunto and Alberto Rossi.
- “The Power of Shareholder Votes: Evidence from Director Elections,” Journal of Financial Economics 133(1), 134-153. Coauthored with Reena Aggarwal and Sandeep Dahiya.
- “Mutual Fund Competition, Managerial Skill, and Alpha Persistence,” 2018, Review of Financial Studies 31(5), 1896-1929. Coauthored with Jerry Hoberg and Nitin Kumar.
Teaching
Current
Honors and distinctions
- Program chair, Midwest Finance Association meetings, (2021- )
- Co-editor, Journal of Financial Services Research, (2019- )
- Associate Editor, Financial Management, (2012- )
- Inaugural Edelweiss Distinguished Visiting Professor, IIM Ahmedabad (2019)
- Keynote speaker, Presidency University Bicentenary (2017)
- Keynote speaker, India Finance Conference (2017)
- Management Science INFORMS best paper award (2015)
- Grant panel, NYU-NSE India Research Initiative, 2014-
- Journal of Financial Economics all-star paper award (2008)
- Best referee award, Journal of Financial Intermediation (2011), Review of Financial Studies (2001)
- Best paper award, Western Finance Association (1999)
