Hi, I'm Elizabeth (Lizzy) Bickmore and I'm a Ph.D. candidate in Finance at Virginia Tech. I will be on the academic job market in 2026/2027. 

My research focuses on financial intermediation and credit markets, with a focus on how lender incentives, securitization, and institutional frictions shape the allocation of credit and borrower outcomes.

Research Interests

Banking, Financial Intermediation, Corporate Finance, Household Finance

Job Market Paper

Loan Prepayment, Securitization, and the Expansion of Productive Credit

Abstract: Leveraging an exogenous shock to lenders’ ability to securitize, I demonstrate that securitization enables lenders to offload prepaying loans, increasing credit to borrowers with a propensity to prepay. I examine economic consequences of this expansion and find that prepaying borrowers obtain more favorable terms and generate greater job creation on subsequent loans. Using a bunching estimator, I find that borrowers place significant value on the option to prepay, and that restricting prepayment or credit to prepaying borrowers dampens economic growth. These findings reveal an overlooked benefit of securitization: expanding access to high-quality, economically productive borrowers with limited credit histories.

SSRN Link 

Presentations: Southern Finance Association (Nov 2025), Semifinalist, Best Paper Award - Financial Management Association (Oct 2023), Virginia Tech (Mar 2025).