About
Ambrus Kecskés is an Professor of Finance at the Schulich School of Business at York University. He studied at the Rotman School of Management and earned a B.Com. and Ph.D. in Finance, both from the University of Toronto.
His main research expertise and interests lie at the intersection of financial markets and the real economy. He has published numerous papers in the top finance and accounting journals. He is an Associate Editor at the Journal of Corporate Finance. His research has won many best paper awards at conferences around the world and is regularly cited by such media outlets as the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Forbes, the Financial Post, the Globe and Mail, and CBC News.
His teaching focuses on corporate finance and ranges from the undergraduate to the doctoral levels. He has won numerous teaching excellence awards. In addition to his teaching at York University, he has taught at Virginia Tech and the University of Toronto.
News
My PhD student, Ali Ahmadi, is on the job market in 2025-2026
Presentations:
European Finance Association (EFA) Doctoral Tutorial, 2025, (selectivity: 8 papers accepted out of 128 submitted) (program)
Northern Finance Association (NFA) PhD Poster Session, 2025 (8 posters) (program)
RCF-ECGI Corporate Finance and Governance Conference, 2025 (program)
Financial Management Association (FMA) Conference, 2025
Canadian Sustainable Finance Network Conference, 2025
Awards:
Business for a Better World Dissertation Award, Colorado State University, 2025
Best Paper Award, Canadian Sustainable Finance Network Conference, 2025
Selected independently by the team at the Institute for Sustainable Finance (ISF)
New working paper: Does corporate production of AI innovation create value?
With: Ali Ahmadi, Roni Michaely, and Phuong-Anh Nguyen
Abstract: Yes, by decreasing firm risk, not by increasing profitability, and with investors taking years to recognize the value created. We start, using novel AI patent data, by documenting significant corporate production of AI innovation as early as 1990. Then, we show that a signification motivation for a firm's AI production is the mutually reinforcing effects of the firm's innovation capacity (exogenous R&D stock) and its labor inputs' AI exposure (both the firm's own and its customers'). We use the interaction of these two effects to instrument for AI production. We find that producing AI creates firm value through a large, permanent decrease in risk (cash flow and stock return, systematic and idiosyncratic). Further evidence suggests that AI lowers physical capital intensity and increases bargaining power for producing firms. The initial market reaction to AI patent announcements is economically small, but abnormal stock returns thereafter are significantly positive (about 5% per year) for (only) roughly three years, suggesting initial undervaluation followed by gradual correction. We find no evidence of investor learning, except during the past five years. We empirically distinguish producing AI innovation versus AI adoption, automation, general technology, and other potential confounds.
Click here for an older draft. Updated draft coming soon.
Selected conferences: European Finance Association (EFA) 2024, CREDIT International Conference (GRETA) 2024, CCA-ESCP Workshop on Financial Institutions and Corporate Finance 2025, Financial Intermediation Network of European Studies (FINEST) Autumn Workshop 2025 (program), FMA Consortium on Asset Management 2025, Research in Behavioral Finance Conference (RBFC) 2024
Best Paper Award, Vietnam International Conference in Finance, 2025
Best Paper Award, Academy of Finance Conference, 2025
Best Paper Award, Eurasia Business and Economics Society Conference, 2025
Best Paper Award, Finance Symposium, 2024
Contact information
Name: Ambrus Kecskés
Position: Professor of Finance
Address:
Finance Area
Schulich School of Business
York University
4700 Keele St.
Toronto, ON M3J 1P3
Canada
Email: akecskes@schulich.yorku.ca