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Finance

Henry Bullock Professor of Finance & Real Estate

Director of the Crown Family Israel Center for Innovation

Co-Director of the Guthrie Center for Real Estate Research

Portrait of Efraim Benmelech, Faculty at the Kellogg School of Management

Efraim Benmelech is Henry Bullock Professor of Finance & Real Estate, the Director of both the Guthrie Center for Real Estate Research and the Crown Family Israel Center for Innovation at the Kellogg School of Management and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). Benmelech’s research interests are in the field of credit markets where he studies financial contracting, financial crises, securitization, bankruptcy and financial distress. He also writes extensively on the economics of terrorism and economic history. Professor Benmelech’s research on financial distress, the financial crisis and on terrorism have received wide media coverage in outlets such as Bloomberg, the Boston GlobeThe Economist, the Financial TimesFortune, the New York TimesWall Street Journal and USA TODAY. Benmelech received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 2005.

About Efraim
Research interests
  • Applied Corporate Finance
  • Bankruptcy
  • Credit Markets
  • Economic History
  • Financial Contracting.
Teaching interests
  • Corporate Finance
  • Ph.D., 2005, Finance, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago
    M.B.A., 2001, School of Business Administration, School of Business Administration, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
    B.A., 1999, Economics and Business Administration, Department of Economics and the School of Business Administration, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  • Director, Real Estate, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2014-present
    Harold L. Stuart Professor of Finance, Finance, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2014-present
    Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research, 2006-present
  • Member, Board of Directors, Israel National Coal Supplies Company (State-owned company for coal supplies), 2000-2001
    Assistant Director, Israel Ministry of Finance, 1998-2001
    Major, Commander of Company and Chief Operating Officer, Israeli Defense Forces, 1990-1996
  • The Journal of Human Resources Highly Cited Paper Award 2023.
    Charles River Associates Award for Best Paper on Corporate Finance, Western Finance Association
    CRA Award for Best Paper on Corporate Finance at the WFA 2020 Meetings, Westerna Finance Association, 2020
    The Review of Corporate Finance Studies best paper award, Financial Studies Society
    The Review of Corporate Finance Studies Best Paper Award, 2012
    The Journal of Finance Brattle Group Award, First Prize, 2011
    Excellence in Refereeing Award, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2011
    National Science Foundation CAREER Award: Empirical Analysis of the Causes and Consequences of Financial Distress, 2009-2014
    Excellence in Refereeing Award, American Economic Review, 2009
    Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance, 2009
    GARP Risk Management Research Program Grant, 2007
    Andrew E. Furer Fellow, Department of Economics, Harvard University, 2006-2009
    Warburg Fund, Harvard, 2006, 2007, 2008
    Clark Fund, Harvard, 2006, 2008, 2009
    John Leusner Family Fellowship, University of Chicago, GSB, 2005
    The Lehman Brothers Fellowship for Research Excellence in Finance (1st Prize), 2004-2005
    The FDIC Center for Financial Research Fellowship, 2004
    The AFA Student Travel Grant, 2004
    The Harry Simons Fellowship, 2003-2004
    The CRSP Summer Paper Grant, 2002
    The Solomon Fund Fellowship, 2002
    The University of Chicago, GSB Fellowship, 2001-2005
    The Maurice Falk Award for Outstanding Students Papers, 1999
    The Israeli Defense Forces, Chief of General Staff Award for Outstanding Officers, (Award for Excellence and Leadership by Mr. Ehud Barak, Israel Former Prime Minister), 1994
  • Associate Editor, Journal of Finance, 2013-2018
    Editor, Review of Corporate Finance Studies, 2011-2018

Corporate Finance III (FINC-586-3)

This course provides a theoretical and empirical treatment of major topics in empirical corporate finance, including financial contracting; banking, securitization, and financial regulation: household finance and macroeconomics; entrepreneurship and venture capital.

Corporate Finance II (FINC-586-2)

This course provides a theoretical and empirical treatment of major topics in empirical corporate finance, including: investment decisions, capital structure, corporate governance, and law and finance.

Corporate Finance I (FINC-586-1)

This course introduces students to theories of corporate financing and investment decisions; optimal financial contracting and security design; financial intermediation; and financial crises. Throughout we study the effects of incentive problems and asymmetric information.