Aidan Hathaway

I am an economics Ph.D. candidate at the University of Alabama. My research examines how lender specialization affects borrower outcomes and how the mix of small and large depositors shapes bank fragility. 

My job market paper, Home Field Advantage: Local Credit Specialization and Demand Capture, exploits the 2005 Renewable Fuel Standard as a positive demand shock to agriculture to estimate the value of informed lenders to borrowers. I find that farm earnings grow 9.5% more per standard deviation of local credit specialization, and that the benefit is realized through credit allocation rather than credit volume.

I received the Outstanding Research by a Doctoral Student Award from Alabama's economics Ph.D. program, was named a 2026 Community Banking Research Conference Emerging Scholar, and have published in the Journal of Risk and Uncertainty. For my teaching, I received the Harold Elder Teaching Award.

Before graduate school, I spent seven years in corporate and bank treasury, with roles spanning funding, liquidity, and FX risk at IBM, Citizens Financial Group, and Kyndryl. 

I am on the 2026–27 academic job market and can be reached at abhathaway@crimson.ua.edu