Vathunyoo (Ben) Sila

Bio

Ben is a Senior Lecturer in Finance at the University of Edinburgh Business School. Ben's research interests include corporate finance, corporate governance, law and finance, and financial intermediation. His research papers have been published in several leading finance and management journals, and have been selected for presentation at various international conferences, including EUROFIDAI Paris Finance Conference, Financial Management Association (FMA) Conferences, and European Financial Management Associations (EFMA) Annual Meeting.

Ben has served as an ad-hoc reviewer for several ABS-rated journals including Management Science, Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Banking and Finance, and Journal of Accounting and Public Policy.

Ben sits on the Editorial Board of Corporate Governance: An International Review and Finance Research Letters. Ben's research projects have won research funding from the British Academy, the Leverhulme Trust, and the Carnegie Trust.

Working Papers

Corporate Hiring Under Uncertainty

(with Louis Nguyen)

Pay transparency and financial leverage

(with Woon Sau Leung and Xuan Tian)

Pasture green: Corporate investment in green skills and toxic plant emissions

(with Jens Hagendorff and Louis Nguyen)

Publications

2025

Little emperor CEOs: Firm risk and performance when CEOs grow up without siblings

Journal of Corporate Finance, 90: 102658.

(with Angelica Gonzalez, Jens Hagendorff, and Tianxi Wang)

2024

Does shareholder litigation risk cause public firms to delist? Evidence from securities class action lawsuits

Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 59(4): 1726-1759.

(with Jonathan Brogaard, Nhan Le, and Louis Nguyen)

2022

Does marriage equality promote credit access? Evidence from same-sex marriage laws

Journal of Corporate Finance, 77: 102315.

(with Jens Hagendorff and Louis Nguyen)

Climate change risk and the costs of mortgage credit

(with Louis Nguyen, Steven Ongena, and Sushen Qi)

Review of Finance, 26(6): 1509-1549.

Media Coverage: Duke University

Policy impact: United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, quoted in a letter to the Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.