• Outstanding Paper Award by Capital Market Research Institute
• Presented at: Bank of Thailand Research Exchange (2023), PIER-CMRI Macro-Finance Research Workshop (2023)
While many find that high concentration of wealth slows economic growth, I argue that this depends on sources of wealth of the ultra rich. Specifically, more wealth concentration in heir (founder) billionaires is associated with slow (fast) total-factor-productivity growth. Market reactions to billionaires’ sudden deaths confirm that billionaires indeed impact firms outside their control and that their impact is higher in countries with weaker institutions.
• Funded by Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research, Bank of Thailand
• Presented at: Bank of Thailand Research Exchange (2022), Sangvian Conference (2022), Thammasat Business School (2022)
I find that during the COVID crisis, heir billionaires significantly outperform both founder billionaires and equity markets in countries with weak financial institutions. If heir billionaires are more adept at rent seeking than founder billionaires because family connections can be inherited more reliably than entrepreneurial talent, this paper raises the plausibility that crises give rise to rent seekers when financial institutions are weak.
with Morten Bennedsen (U of Copenhagen, INSEAD), Mario D. Amore (Bocconi) and Nicolai Foss (CBS)
• Presented at: PIER Research Workshop (2023)
We provide causal evidence that appointing a family CEO, as opposed to a professional CEO, increases firm innovation performance by approximately 7%. Moreover, such positive effect is especially large when the incoming family CEO holds a university degree in engineering or business. We conclude that family long-term assets and human capital facilitate firm innovation.
Nomura Journal of Asian Capital Markets, vol.7, pages 29-35, March 2023.
I show that during the COVID crisis, firms affiliated with small business groups in Thailand sig- nificantly outperform similar freestanding firms and the stock market. In contrast, firms affiliated with large business groups significantly underperform both. I conclude that business groups are still important drivers of growth in emerging markets, but they become inefficient when they are too large.