Working Papers

• Uncertainty as Opportunity: Political Polarization and Investments in High-Growth Startups (Job Market Paper, draft forthcoming)
  Presentations: University of Toronto 2025 (scheduled), WEFI Student Workshop 2025 (scheduled)
  Abstract: This paper examines how rising political polarization shapes startup financing through policy uncertainty. I develop a new measure of policy uncertainty based on polarized close gubernatorial elections, combining prediction market data with candidate ideology scores. Using this measure in a stacked difference-in-differences framework, I provide causal evidence that heightened policy uncertainty increases both the likelihood and speed of fundraising by VC-backed startups. The effect is driven by candidate polarization and results in larger total fundraising during uncertain periods. These findings highlight the growth-option nature of startups and provide novel evidence of a positive relationship between uncertainty and investment, with implications for economic dynamism.
  
  

• The Unintended Consequences of Intellectual Property Protection: Staying Private Longer
  Presentations: PhD Workshop on Entrepreneurial Finance 2024, NFA 2024, University of Toronto 2024, AFA 2025, MFA 2025
  Abstract: This paper examines whether the strengthening of legal protections for trade secrets delays firms’ IPOs and reduces their likelihood of going public. Because trade secrets derive their value from confidentiality, enhancements in their legal protection increase the opportunity cost of public disclosure. Using the staggered introduction of such protections across states between 1980 and 2012, I find that the enhancement in trade secret protection led firms to stay private for at least one additional year. Given the rising importance of intellectual property and its protection through trade secrets, these results suggest that the decline of public markets will likely persist.
  
  

• Understanding Founder-Friendliness: The Roles of Startup Accelerators and Venture Capitalist Reputation
  Presentations: University of Toronto 2022, NFA 2023
  Abstract: This paper offers a novel perspective on the founder-friendliness of venture capital (VC) funding, extending beyond current debates. It suggests that startup accelerators, which have emerged recently, collect information about the reputations of VCs and share it with startups. This creates a positive feedback loop that fosters greater information sharing from entrepreneurs to VCs, enabling the latter to make more impactful contributions to ventures. As a result, VCs require fewer control rights as interventions become less necessary. Ultimately, this dynamic leads to mutually beneficial relationships between startups and VCs.

Selected Work in Progress

• The Real Effects of Litigation Risk: Evidence from Canadian Firms  with Alexander Dyck and Craig Doidge
  Synopsis: We study how Canadian firms responded to the sharp increase in litigation risk following a securities law reform, which created a statutory cause of action for secondary-market misrepresentation. Comparing Canadian firms to U.S. and interlisted peers, we find that Canadian firms reduced financial misreporting, lowering the likelihood of fraud. At the same time, they expanded their directors’ and officers’ insurance coverage and faced higher premiums, consistent with insurers pricing in greater liability. Finally, Canadian firms experienced fewer stock price crashes and negative press releases, further suggesting that heightened litigation risk led to fewer misrepresentations and manipulations.
  
  

• Litigation Risk in the Market for Corporate Control  with Lorna Zhong
  Synopsis: The prior literature shows that when operating firms are drawn into patent litigation, they are more likely to merge. Litigation can create pressure on a small defendant, pushing it into the hands of acquirers. It can also pressure a larger defendant, prompting it to acquire a smaller plaintiff. In contrast, we find that when litigation risk rises because peers face patent lawsuits from non-practicing entities, acquisition activity declines. Potential buyers become concerned about contamination risk and reduce their demand for targets. In short, realized litigation risk can stimulate acquisitions, but heightened ambient litigation risk deters them.