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Artur Raviv
Artur Raviv

FINANCE
Alan E. Peterson Professor of Finance

Print Overview

Artur Raviv is the Alan E. Peterson Distinguished Professor of Finance. He has been a member of the Kellogg faculty since 1981, and served as the chairman of the Finance Department during the years 1986-1989. Prior to joining Kellogg Raviv taught at Carnegie Mellon University and Tel Aviv University. He is the past President of the Western Finance Association.

Professor Raviv's research interests are in the areas of corporate finance, agency theory, information economics, and industrial organization. He has investigated optimal financing decisions, innovative financial instruments, corporate control issues, management compensation and incentive schemes and pricing and auction design problems. He currently studies capital budgeting processes, corporate governance and organization design. Artur is the recipient of a number of grants, including five from the National Science Foundation and one from the Bradley Foundation.

His research was published in leading scholarly journals, including the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Finnacial Studies and the American Economic Review. His article, “Capital Structure and the Informational Role of Debt,” (with Milton Harris) was selected as a distinguished article to appear in the Journal of Finance in 1990. He was an Associate Editor of the Journal of Finance from 1989 to 2000 and served on the Board of Editorial Advisors for the Journal of Accounting, Auditing, and Finance and the Journal of Economics and Management Strategy.

The graduates of Kellogg’s Executive Master’s Program named Professor Raviv Outstanding Professor of the Year eigthteen times since 1983. He developed and directs three highly successful executive programs (Merger Week, Corporate Financial Strategy and Finance for Executives) and teaches regularly in Kellogg’s executive programs at the James L. Allen Center and Kellogg’s regular MBA program.

Artur has lectured at many universities in the United States and abroad, has been a guest speaker for the American, Western, and European Financial Associations, and serves as a consultant to numerous firms. In 2008 he was elected as the President of the Western Finance Association. He received his Ph.D. in Managerial Economics from Northwestern University in 1975.



Areas of Expertise
Contract Theory
Corporate Finance
Corporate Capital Structure
Corporate Governance
Economics of Uncertainty
Information Economics
Investment Banking
Mergers and Acquisitions
Payout Policy (Dividends, Repurchases)
  • Recent Media Coverage

    Economist Intelligence Unit: Executive Briefing: Shareholders vs. management: Split decision

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Print Vita
Education
PhD, 1974, Managerial Economics, Northwestern University
MS, 1971, Operations Research, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology
BA, 1968, Economics, Statistics, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
BSc, 1967, Mathematics, Physics, Hebrew University

Academic Positions
Alan E. Peterson Distinguished Professor of Finance and Managerial Economics, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 1981-present
Chairman of the Finance Department, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 1985-1988
Professor, Tel-Aviv University, 1985-1985
Associate Professor of Economics, Graduate School of Industrial Administration, Carnegie-Mellon University, 1977-1977
Assistant Professor of Economics, Graduate School of Industrial Administration, Carnegie-Mellon University, 1974-1974

Editorial Positions
Associate Editor, Journal of Finance, 1983-2000
Board of Editors, Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 1992-1998
Board of Editorial Advisers, Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Finance, 1989-1996
Associate Editor, Review of Financial Studies, 1992-1994

 
Print Research
Research Interests
Corporate Finance, corporate governance, capital structure, economics of uncertainty, information economics

Articles
Harris, Milton and Artur Raviv. 2010. Control of Corporate Decisions: Shareholders vs. Management. Review of Financial Studies. 23(11): 4115-4147.
Abstract
Harris, Milton and Artur Raviv. 2008. A Theory of Board Control and Size. Review of Financial Studies. 21(4): 1797-1832.
Harris, Milton and Artur Raviv. 2005. Allocation of Decision-Making Authority. Review of Finance. 9(3): 353-383.
Harris, Milton and Artur Raviv. 2002. Organization Design. Management Science. 48(7): 852-865.
Harris, Milton and Artur Raviv. 1998. Capital Budgeting and Delegation. Journal of Financial Economics. 50(3): 259-289.
AbstractLink
Harris, Milton and Artur Raviv. 1996. The Capital Budgeting Process, Incentives, and Information. Journal of Finance. 51(4): 1136-1174.
AbstractLink
Harris, Milton and Artur Raviv. 1991. The Theory of Capital Structure. Journal of Finance. 46(1): 297-356.
AbstractLink
Harris, Milton and Artur Raviv. 1990. Capital Structure and the Informational Role of Debt. Journal of Finance. 45(2): 321-349.
AbstractLink
Harris, Milton and Artur Raviv. 1989. The Design of Securities. Journal of Financial Economics. 24(2): 255-287.
AbstractLink
Harris, Milton and Artur Raviv. 1988. Corporate Control Contests and Capital Structure. Journal of Financial Economics. 20(1-2): 55-86.
AbstractLink
Harris, Milton and Artur Raviv. 1988. Corporate Governance: Voting Rights and Majority Rules. Journal of Financial Economics. 20(1-2): 203-235.
AbstractLink
Harris, Milton and Artur Raviv. 1985. A Sequential Signalling Model for Convertible Debt Call Policy. Journal of Finance. 40(5): 1263-1281.
AbstractLink
Raviv, Artur. 1985. Management Compensation and the Managerial Labor Market: An Overview. Journal of Accounting and Economics. 7(1-3): 239-245.
AbstractLink
Parsons, John E. and Artur Raviv. 1985. Underpricing of Seasoned Issues. Journal of Financial Economics. 14(3): 377-397.
AbstractLink
Raviv, Artur. 1984. Economic Foundations for Pricing: Discussion. Journal of Business. 57(1): S35-S38.
Link
Kriebel, Charles H. and Artur Raviv. 1982. Application of a Productivity Model for Computer Systems. Decision Sciences. 13(2): 266-286.
Abstract
Harris, Milton and Artur Raviv. 1981. A Theory of Monopoly Pricing Schemes with Demand Uncertainty. American Economic Review. 71(3): 347-365.
Link
Harris, Milton and Artur Raviv. 1981. Allocation Mechanisms and the Design of Auctions. Econometrica. 49(6): 1477-1499.
AbstractLink
Harris, Milton and Artur Raviv. 1979. Optimal Incentive Contracts with Imperfect Information. Journal of Economic Theory. 20(2): 231-259.
AbstractLink
Raviv, Artur. 1979. The Desgin of an Optimal Insurance Policy. American Economic Review. 69(1): 84-96.
Link
Epple, Dennis and Artur Raviv. 1978. Product Safety: Liability Rules, Market Structure and Imperfect Information. American Economic Review. 68(1): 80-95.
AbstractLink
Harris, Milton and Artur Raviv. 1978. Some Results on Incentive Contracts with Applications to Education and Employment, Health Insurance, and Law Enforcement. American Economic Review. 68(1): 20-30.
Link
Raviv, Artur and Eitan Zemel. 1977. Durability of Capital Goods: Taxes and Market Structure. Econometrica. 45(3): 703-718.
AbstractLink
Mandelker, Gershon N. and Artur Raviv. 1977. Investment Banking: An Economic Analysis of Optimal Underwriting Contracts. Journal of Finance. 32: 683-694.
Link
Raviv, Artur. 1973. Discussion of "Transmission Planning Using Discrete Dynamic Optimizing". IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems. 92(4): 1369-1370.
Kriebel, Charles H. and Artur Raviv. An Economics Approach to Modeling the Productivity of Computer Systems. Management Science. 26(3): 297-311.
AbstractLink
Harris, Milton, Charles H. Kriebel and Artur Raviv. Asymmetric Information, Incentives and Intrafirm Resource Allocation. Management Science. 28(6): 609-620.
AbstractLink
Harris, Milton and Artur Raviv. Differences of Opinion Make a Horse Race. Review of Financial Studies. 6(3): 473-506.
AbstractLink
Kander, Zvi and Artur Raviv. Maintenance when Failure Distribution of Equipment is Only Partially Known. Naval Research Logistic Quarterly. 21(3): 411-429.
Abstract
Epple, Dennis and Artur Raviv. Product Reliability and Market Structure. Southern Economics Journal. 46(1): 280-287.
Harris, Milton and Artur Raviv. The Role of Games in Security Design. Review of Financial Studies. 8(2): 327-368.
AbstractLink
Book Chapters
Harris, Milton and Artur Raviv. 1996. "The Design of Securities." In The Theory of Corporate Finance, edited by M.J. Brennan, Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.
Harris, Milton and Artur Raviv. 1992. "Financial Contracting Theory." In Advances in Economic Theory, edited by J. Laffont, Cambridge University Press.
Raviv, Artur. 1991. "The Desgin of an Optimal Insurance Policy." In Foundations of Insurance Economics: Readings in Economics and Finance, edited by G. Dionne and S.E. Harrington, 251-263. Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Raviv, Artur. 1987. "Alternative Models of Investment Banking." In Frontiers of Financial Theory, edited by S. Bhattacharya and G. Constantinides, Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman and Littlefield.
Lave, Lester B., Samuel Leinhardt and Artur Raviv. 1979. "The Demand for Automated Bibliographic Systems: A Diffusion Model." In Sixth Annual Telecommunications Policy Research Conference, edited by Herbert S. Dordick, 329-344. Lexington Books.
Cases
Raviv, Artur, Timothy Thompson, Phillip Gresh and Shannon Hennessy. 2004. Bed Bath & Beyond: The Capital Structure Decision. Case 5-204-270 (KEL082).
Abstract
Raviv, Artur, Jan Henrich and Gero Steinroeder. 2003. Energy Gel: A New Product Introduction (A). Case 5-403-756(A) (KEL083).
Abstract
Raviv, Artur, Rod N. Feuer, Parth Mehrotra and Peter Rossmann. 2008. Maytag: Takeover Strategies. Case 5-208-258 (KEL382).
Abstract

 
Print Teaching
Teaching Interests
Corporate finance, valuation, mergers and acquisitions.
Full-Time / Part-Time MBA
Financial Decisions (FINC-442-0)

This course counts toward the following majors: Analytical Finance, Finance.

This course uses case studies to enhance the student's understanding of managerial financial decision making, specifically investment and financing decisions. Topics include short- and long-term financing, capital structure and dividend decisions, cost of capital, capital budgeting, firm valuation, financial and operational restructuring, and mergers and acquisitions. The course emphasizes the basic principles of corporate finance and is sufficiently general so as to be of interest to all students. The course provides students with the opportunity to apply the concepts and theories developed in other finance courses. At its most fundamental level, the course attempts to improve problem-solving skills: problem definition, gathering and organizing the relevant information, developing feasible alternative courses of action, evaluating alternative choices, and recommending and defending the best course of action.

Executive MBA
Managerial Finance I (FINCX-430-0)
Managerial Finance I introduces the basic techniques of finance. Topics include discounting techniques and applications; evaluation of capital expenditures; and estimating cost of capital and bond and stock valuation.

Managerial Finance II (FINCX-441-0)
Managerial Finance II analyzes corporate financial decisions. Topics include market efficiency, capital structure, dividend and stock repurchase policy, and firms’ use of options and convertible securities.

Strategic Financial Management (FINCX-442-0)
Strategic Financial Management examines financial management theory and cases. Students use valuation skills to determine the cost of capital, financing and operating issues faced by the firm.