ABOUT
Finance PhD candidate
Schulich School of Business, York University
I am on the 2025-26 academic job market.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Corporate Finance, Sustainable Finance, Corporate Governance, Labor and Finance, Artificial Intelligence, Investment
CURRICULUM VITAE: click here for my CV
EMAIL: aliahmdi@yorku.ca
REFERENCES
Ambrus Kecskés (supervisor), Full Professor, Schulich School of Business, York University, Canada
Roni Michaely (coauthor), Full Professor and Chair, University of Hong Kong Business School
Kee-Hong Bae (committee member), Full Professor and Chair, Schulich School of Business, York University, Canada
Phuong-Anh Nguyen (committee member), Assistant Professor, School of Administrative Studies, York University, Canada
JOB MARKET PAPER
The Double-Edged Sword of Executive Personal Liability: Firm Value vs. Social Responsibility
Holding executives personally liable for corporate misconduct destroys shareholder value. Guided by predictions of a stylized model, I causally demonstrate this exploiting a novel shock to executives' liabilities for corporate pollution. While affected firms decrease toxic emissions by 4%, they experience an immediate 2.3% drop in equity value, which not only persists but intensifies in the months following the shock. The decline reflects increased environmental compliance costs which are absorbed by shareholders.
Awards:
Business for a Better World Dissertation Award, Colorado State University College of Business (2025, link)—USD 6,000
Best Paper Award Semifinalist, Financial Management Association Conference, 2025—decision about finalists will be announced at FMA, Oct. 22-25
Best Paper Award, Canadian Sustainable Finance Network Conference (2025, photos)—CAD 1,000
Canadian Securities Institute Research Foundation (CSI-RF) PhD Scholarship (2024, two-time recipient, link)
Presentations:
European Finance Association (EFA) Doctoral Tutorial, 2025 (selectivity: 8 papers accepted out of 131 submitted, link)
Northern Finance Association (NFA) PhD Poster Session, 2025
Financial Management Association (FMA) Annual Meeting, 2025
Canadian Sustainable Finance Network (CSFN) Conference, 2025
Business for a Better World (B4BW) Symposium, Colorado State University, 2025
Travel Grants:
EFA Doctoral Tutorial (2025)—EUR 1,000
NFA (2025)—USD 500
HKU Governance and Sustainability PhD Workshop (2025)—HKD 5,000
Business for a Better World Symposium (2025)
WORKING PAPER
Producing AI Innovation and Its Value Implications
With: Ambrus Kecskés, Roni Michaely, and Phuong-Anh Nguyen
Abstract: We quantify the proliferation of artificial intelligence innovation since 1990. Then, studying publicly traded firms, we find that they direct their production of innovation toward AI, motivated by their own, and their customers', labor's exposure to AI technology. We instrument actual AI production by interacting exogenously measured innovation capacity and AI exposure. We find that, consistently during the past three decades, producing AI transitorily increases profitability, durably decreases risk (both systematic and idiosyncratic), and increases a firm's future stock returns. We can empirically distinguish production of AI innovation from AI adoption, automation, and other potential confounds. The results suggest that AI innovation is firm value increasing but underestimated by investors.
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, FMA Consortium on Asset Management 2025, Research in Behavioral Finance Conference (RBFC) 2024
Best Paper Award, Academy of Finance Conference (2025)
Best Paper Award, Eurasia Business and Economics Society Conference (2025)
Best Paper Award, Vietnam International Conference in Finance (2025)
Best Paper Award, Finance Symposium (2024)