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: For borrowers, prepayment reflects improved financial health and enables better terms. For lenders, it reduces expected returns, creating frictions that restrict credit to prepayment-prone borrowers. Exploiting an exogenous shock to secondary-market pricing in the SBA 7(a) program, which reduced securitization profitability without affecting borrower demand or loan quality, I show that securitization mitigates these frictions by transferring prepayment risk at origination and expanding credit to such borrowers. These borrowers are high quality: those who prepay subsequently obtain lower spreads, larger loans, and support more jobs with their subsequent borrowing. A bunching design exploiting discontinuities in SBA prepayment penalties confirms that borrowers value prepayment flexibility. When securitization contracts following the policy shock, high-securitizing lenders disproportionately cut lending to prepayment-prone borrowers, dampening job creation and growth, revealing an overlooked channel through which securitization improves credit market efficiency.

SSRN Link 

Presentations: European Finance Association Doctoral Tutorial - Scheduled (Aug 2026), Virginia Tech (Apr 2026),  Southern Finance Association (Nov 2025), Semifinalist, Best Paper Award - Financial Management Association (Oct 2025), Virginia Tech (Mar 2025).