GUSTAVO S. CORTES
Assistant Professor of FinanceWarrington College of BusinessUniversity of FloridaEDUCATION
2013-2019: Ph.D. in EconomicsUniversity of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign2008-2012: B.Sc. in EconomicsUniversidade de São Paulo
09.2025 | BYU Red Rock Finance Conference
07.2025 | NBER Summer Institute*
06.2025 | Bank of Canada–Deutsche Bundesbank International Conference
05.2025 | SFS Cavalcade*
05.2025 | Federal Reserve Board Monetary & Financial History Workshop
04.2025 | University of Kentucky Finance Conference
02.2025 | ASU Sonoran Finance Conference*
05.2024 | The World Bank
04.2024 | FSU–Truist Beach Conference
Gustavo Cortes is an Assistant Professor of Finance at the University of Florida. He holds a B.Sc. in Economics from Universidade de São Paulo and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He taught Macroeconomics at the University of Illinois and currently teaches Equity & Capital Markets at the University of Florida. His academic work has been published in the Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Financial Economics, and Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, among others. Professor Cortes's research focuses on macro-finance, financial intermediation, corporate finance, and financial history. In his recent work, he studies how banks, firms, central banks, and asset markets (stocks, bonds, real estate) behave in times of extreme distress, including the Great Depression of the 1930s, the World Wars, and the Great Recession of 2008-2012. Professor Cortes has been invited to present his research at several universities, central banks, and policy institutions, such as the Federal Reserve Board, the World Bank, the Bank of Canada, and the Central Bank of Brazil. His work has received coverage in leading media outlets, including Bloomberg, The New York Times, and The Financial Times.
Risk Management in Deadly Times: The U.S. Life Insurance Industry in the 1918-19 Influenza Pandemic
Economic History Review, forthcoming (with G. Verdickt)Financial Factors and the Propagation of the Great Depression
Journal of Financial Economics, 2022, 145(2): 577-594 (with B. Taylor and M. Weidenmier)[ DOI Link | Published Version (pdf) | Working Paper (pdf) | Media Coverage (The Balance | National Affairs) ]Exporting Uncertainty: The Impact of Brexit on Corporate America
Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 2022, 57(8): 3178-3222 (with M. Campello, F. d'Almeida, and G. Kankanhalli)[ DOI Link | Published Version (pdf) | Working Paper (pdf) | NBER Version | Media Coverage (CATO Institute | Cambridge Judge Business School) ]Unconventional Monetary Policy and Disaster Risk: Evidence from the Subprime and COVID-19 Crises
Journal of International Money and Finance, 2022, 122(2022): 102543 (with G. Gao, F. Silva, and Z. Song)Stock Volatility and the Great Depression
Review of Financial Studies, 2019, 32(9): 3544-3570 (with M. Weidenmier)[ DOI Link | Published Version (pdf) | Working Paper (pdf) | Media Coverage (Bloomberg) ]Deconstructing Credibility: The Breaking of Monetary Policy Rules in Brazil
Journal of International Money and Finance, 2017, 74(6): 31-52 (with C. Paiva)[ DOI Link | Published Version (pdf) | Working Paper (pdf) | Internet Appendix (pdf) | Media Coverage (Folha de S. Paulo) ]Mortgages for Machinery: Credit and Industrial Investment in Pre-World War I Brazil
Financial History Review, 2014, 21(2): 191-212 (with R. Marcondes and M.D. Diaz)[ DOI Link | Published Version (pdf) | Working Paper (pdf) ]Stock Volatility and the War Puzzle: The Military Demand Channel [ R&R: RFS ]
(with A. Vossmeyer and M. Weidenmier) Revised & Resubmitted, Review of Financial StudiesPresentations: AEA Annual Meeting* | SEA Annual Meeting | UCB–UFRGS International Workshop on Macro-Finance (Brazil) | University of Florida (Warrington) | Utah State University (Huntsman)[ Working Paper (pdf) | NBER Working Paper | NBER Digest Summary ]Media Coverage: [ New York Times | Financial Times | The Telegraph | The Australian | The Age | The AU Times | Switzerland Times | National Affairs | MarketWatch | Money Control | Marginal Revolution | Le Nouvel Économiste (French) | El Economista (Spanish) | NBER Reporter ]Housing Is the Financial Cycle: Evidence from 100 Years of Local Building Permits
(with C. LaPoint)Best Paper Award, 2025 AREUEA National ConferenceA Century of Municipal Bond Financing
(with I. Cunha and K. Barbosa) Under ReviewPresentations: Brookings Institution* | Federal Reserve Board | FGV-EESP | Louisiana State University (Ourso) | Monash Business School's FMCG Conference | Queen Mary, University of London* | SEA Annual Meeting | Texas A&M University's Young Scholars Finance Consortium | University of Florida (Warrington)* | University of Kentucky (Gatton)* | Virtual Municipal Finance Workshop* | Warwick Business School* | WEAI Annual Meeting | WFA Meeting* | Yale Finance Junior Conference[ Working Paper (pdf) ]Unleashing International Trade through Financial Integration: Evidence from a Cross-Border Payment System
(with L. Mariani and V. Sant'Anna)From Arm's Length to Arm in Arm: Banks and Municipal Bond Financing
(with I. Cunha and S. Haque)Presentations: Brookings Institution (Municipal Finance Conference)* | FGV–EBAPE | Monash Business School | University of Dayton* | University of Florida | University of Kentucky (Gatton)*[ Working Paper (pdf) | Media Coverage: (Brookings Institution) ]Send Them Back? The Real Estate Consequences of Repatriations
(with V. Sant'Anna) Under ReviewPresentations: St. Francisco Fed (Annual Workshop on Macroeconomic Implications of Migration)* | MIT Center for Real Estate* | AEA Annual Meeting (Poster Session)* | AERUS* | SKEMA Business School | University of Michigan's H2D2 Seminar Series* | University of Florida | University of South Florida | Junior Webinar on the Economics of Immigration* | Midwest Economics Association* | Young Economists Symposium*[ Working Paper (pdf) | MIT Center for Real Estate Research Paper No. 23/19 (pdf) | Media Coverage (AEA Video Interview) ]Finding Home When Disaster Strikes: Dust Bowl Migration and Housing in Los Angeles
(with D. Baerlocher and V. Sant'Anna) Under ReviewCredit Shock Propagation in Firm Networks: Evidence from Government Bank Credit Expansions
(with T. Silva and B. Van Doornik)Presentations: Amsterdam Business School | Bank of Spain (CEMLA)* | Central Bank of Brazil | Chicago Financial Institutions Conference** | EIEF | Federal Reserve Board | George Mason University (School of Business) | Indiana University (Kelley) | University of Florida (Warrington) | University of Illinois | University of Kentucky (Gatton) | University of Maryland (Robert H. Smith) | University of New South Wales | University of Pittsburgh (Katz) | University of Toronto (Rotman/Scarborough)[ BCB Working Paper 507/2019 (pdf) ]The Downstream Channel of Financial Constraints and the Amplification of Aggregate Downturns
(with S. Rocha)Runner Up, Best Paper in Banking/Corporate Finance, FMCG 2023 | Finalist, Best Paper in Corporate Finance, FMA 2021Is Corporate Credit Risk Propagated to Employees?
(with F. Correia, T. Martins, and T. Silva)Presentations: BI Norwegian Business School* | Central Bank of Brazil* | Halle Institute for Economic Research* | Hanken School of Economics* | Insper* | Iowa State University (Ivy)* | Nova SBE* | Oregon State University (Business)* | PUC Chile* | Stockholm Business School* | Tulane University (Freeman)* | University of Georgia (Terry)* | Université Laval* | University of Massachusetts-Boston (Business)* | University of Vienna* | University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee (Lubar)* | Warwick Business School* | Wilfrid Laurier University (Lazaridis)* | World Bank (Research Department)*[ Working Paper (pdf) ]Regional Monetary Policies and the Great Depression
(with P. Amir-Ahmadi and M. Weidenmier)Adding Housing to the Factor Zoo
(with C. LaPoint and F. Reyes De La Luz)The Glass-Steagall Act and Bank Stock Market Speculation
(with S. Mahmood and M. Weidenmier)Presentations: CEPR Macro-History Seminar Series* | Federal Reserve Monetary & Financial History Workshop (St. Louis Fed)* | Midwest Macroeconomics Meeting* | Rutgers University*Dissecting the Product Market Consequences of Bankruptcy: Evidence from 300 Million Retail Transactions
(with M. Campello and S. Rocha)Presentations: FSU–Truist Beach Conference | European Finance Association* | Finance Down Under Conference* | Monash Business School* | Sydney Banking & Financial Stability Conference* | LUBRAFIN* | PIMES–UFPE (Brazil)* | University of Technology Sydney*The Evolution of Brazil's Banking System
The Oxford Handbook of the Brazilian Economy, 2018, 198-220 (with R. Marcondes)[ DOI Link | Published Version (pdf) | Working Paper (pdf) ]On the Irrelevance of Mercosur: Evidence from Foreign Direct Investment
Latin American Business Review, 2014, 15(3-4), 291-314 (with C. Paiva)[ DOI Link | Published Version (pdf) | Working Paper (pdf) ]University of Florida
FIN 4504: Equity & Capital Markets (SP 2020, 2021, 2022; FA 2022, 2023, 2024)University of Illinois
ECON 303: Intermediate Macroeconomics (SP 2015, 2016; FA 2015)ECON 103: Principles of Macroeconomics (FA 2017; SP 2018)ECON 102: Principles of Microeconomics (FA 2014)University of Illinois
The Robert E. Demarest Memorial Teaching Award (2016)This award is made to Economics Teaching Assistants "in recognition of outstanding performance in the classroom."