Peter DeMarzo

Research Statement

Professor Peter DeMarzo’s research is in the area of corporate finance, asset securitization, and contracting, as well as market structure and regulation. Recent work has examined the optimal design of securities, compensation mechanisms, regulation of insider trading and broker-dealers, bank capital regulation, and the influence of information asymmetries on corporate disclosures and investment.

Bio

Peter DeMarzo is the John G. McDonald Professor of Finance, Faculty Director for Stanford LEAD, and former senior associate dean at Stanford Graduate School of Business. He has published research on corporate investment and financing, asset securitization, financial contracting, and market regulation. Recent work has examined the optimal design of securities, leverage dynamics, compensation mechanisms, regulation of insider trade, bank capital regulation, and the influence of information asymmetries on corporate disclosures and investment. He is co-author of Corporate Finance and Fundamentals of Corporate Finance (Pearson 2020). He has served as president of the Western Finance Association and the American Finance Association. He is a fellow of the Econometric Society and the American Finance Association, and a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Before joining Stanford, DeMarzo was on the faculty of UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management, and a national fellow at the Hoover Institution. He received a PhD in economics and an MS in operations research from Stanford University, and a BA in cognitive science and in applied mathematics from UC San Diego. His research has received best paper awards from the Review of Financial Studies, the Western Finance Association, and the Utah Winter Finance Conference. He has won best teaching awards at both Stanford GSB and the Haas School of Business. He currently teaches MBA and PhD courses in Corporate Finance and Financial Modeling.

Academic Degrees

• PhD, Stanford University, 1989
• MS, Stanford University, 1985
• BA, UC San Diego, 1984

Academic Appointments

• At Stanford 1995-1997 and since 2000
• Associate Professor, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley, 1997-1999
• Visiting Associate Professor, Stanford GSB, 1995-1997
• Associate Professor, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, 1992-97
• National Fellow, Hoover Institution, 1992-1993
• Asst. Professor, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, 1989-1992

Awards and Honors

• Fellow, Econometric Society
• Fellow and former President, American Finance Association
• Coulter Family Faculty Fellow for 2019–20
• Davis Award, 2019
• Coulter Family Faculty Fellow, 2017–19
• Ormond Family Faculty Fellow, 2013–14
• Western Finance Association Best Paper Award, 2016 and 2001
• Utah Winter Finance Best Paper Award, 2016 and 2004
• Review of Financial Studies Best Paper Award, 2006 and 2008
• GSB Sloan Teaching Excellence Award, 2004 and 2006
• Cheit Outstanding Teaching Award, Haas School of Business
• Clarendon Lectures, Oxford University, 2011
• Bettis Distinguished Scholar, 2010

Books

• Fundamentals of Corporate Finance (4th edition)
  Jonathan B. Berk, Peter M. DeMarzo, Jarrad Harford Prentice Hall Boston 2018
• Corporate Finance (4th edition)
  Jonathan B. Berk, Peter M. DeMarzo Pearson Prentice Hall Boston 2014