Abstract: Municipal bond investors are tax-sensitive, but the bonds are illiquid and costly to trade. Do they sell losing bonds before the tax year ends, and when is selling worth the cost? Public trade records do not report purchase prices, so I reconstruct them for 1.8 million retail sales and compare positions in the same bond and month. A larger unrealized loss predicts more selling in December, not in January or June, and gains show no such shift, even in a design that matches no sale to a purchase. In brokerage records with known owners, the same pattern appears in taxable but not in retirement accounts, and it is stronger for wealthier households. The December increase appears only once a loss's tax value covers the cost of a sale. Among positions eventually sold, investors realize about half of available losses, and round-trip spreads equal a third to a half of their tax value.

Presentations:  Texas Finance Job Candidate Conference (2026), Texas A&M University (2026), FMA Annual Meeting (2026; scheduled) 

Under review. 

Previous title was "Financial Incentives for US Corporate Green Bonds." 

Abstract: Matched U.S. green and sustainability bonds show that labeled-bond benefits vary across the issuance lifecycle. Benefits accrue mainly through underwriting fees, not risk-adjusted yields, and are strongest at debut. Yield effects depend on label credibility, with green debut discounts mostly reflecting duration and rate composition while seasoned sustainability earns risk-adjusted discounts. Inaugural issuance raises disclosure but not broad performance scores. Conditional on returning to conventional debt, sustainability histories predict higher yields and green histories predict higher fees. A dynamic signaling model links these patterns to belief updating and intermediation incentives.

Presentations:  Texas A&M University (2024), FMA Doctoral Student Consortium (2024), Joint Conference with the Allied Korea Finance Associations (2025), International Symposium on Climate, Finance, and Sustainability (ISCFS-2025), FMA Asia/Pacific Conference (2025), KAFA FIN Seminar (2026), FMA Annual Meeting (2026; scheduled)

Abstract: I trace a shale boom's production value from private lease contracts to local budgets and municipal bond prices. By matching a novel dataset of 2.4 million private mineral leases to horizontal well-level production in fourteen states, I measure the royalty flow to mineral owners and separate it from the industry residual kept by operators. Property-tax revenue rises with royalty income even where minerals are exempt, through higher values of the surrounding homes and businesses. It rises with the industry residual only where minerals are taxed as property. Either way, local governments collect under a cent per production dollar, as own taxes where minerals are taxed and as state aid where they are not. General obligation spreads narrow with resource intensity only where minerals are taxed, and only with the industry residual. Investors price the mineral value that is assessed directly for property tax, not royalty income that reaches budgets through surrounding property.

Abstract: Sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs) tie the coupon to a performance target, but redemption can end the issuer's exposure before the target is assessed. Many contracts accelerate the test or charge an equivalent amount at redemption, so a screen on call dates overstates how often a call cancels the penalty. Among callable corporate SLBs, larger penalties come with a shorter gap between the first call and the first test, and the gap narrows through later test dates, not earlier calls. The pattern strengthens with credit-risk controls and is strongest within investment grade. At-issue spreads correlate strongly with the gap, but not once credit quality and issuance year enter. Setting aside mergers, changes of control, and clean-up calls, eight redemptions ended exposure before a test. A stated penalty therefore need not bind the issuer through the assessment it was written to enforce.