Research

Roberto Pinto

(with Carlos F. Avenancio-León, Alessio Piccolo) - Washington Center for Equitable Growth Working Paper Series

Revision Requested at the Journal of Financial Economics
We show that firms (and unions) make active attempts to strengthen their financial resilience to improve bargaining position in labor negotiations.
Presentation: Lancaster University Management School, Kelley School of Business, WU - Vienna University of Economics and Business, University of Vienna, University of Naples Federico II, Northern Finance Association Meeting 2021, Lundquist College of Business at the University of Oregon, China International Conference in Finance (CICF) 2022, CSEF-RCFS Conference on Finance, Labor, and Inequality 2022, European Finance Association Annual Meeting 2022, Bridging Theory and Empirical Research in Finance (University of Chicago Booth School of Business), FIRS 2023, EUROFIDAI-ESSEC Paris December Finance Meeting.
Issue Brief in: Washington Center for Equitable Growth; UC San Diego Today; Inside INdiana Business.

Funding pressure due to the low interest rate environment has pushed corporate pension plans to invest in riskier assets. Our findings indicate that exogenous increases in interest rates relax funding pressure, discouraging underfunded plans’ investments in riskier assets. Relaxing funding pressure also decreases the probability of pension freezes, a process that shifts risk from firms to employees.
Presentation: 2022 Annual Corporate Finance Conference, FGV EBABE in Brazil, KU Leuven, W. P. Carey School of Business at the Arizona State University, Schulich School of Business at the University of York, Lundquist College of Business at the University of Oregon, Lancaster University Management School, LSE Systemic Risk Center, University of Zurich, Swiss National Bank, University of Vienna, UCSD Rady School of Management, Western Finance Association (WFA) 2023.
WFA 2023 - Two Sigma Best Paper Award on Investment Management; Pump Prime grant, 2020.

I show that policies improving employees' financial well-being positively impact corporate performance. Such policies may be very important in the aftermath of the current Covid-19 pandemic, which has exacerbated individuals' financial hardship.
Presentation: CEPR Second Annual Conference on Financial Economics at Imperial College Business School - Doctoral Poster Session (2017), Brown Bag Seminar at Bocconi University (2017), VGSF Conference - Vienna (2017), Lancaster University Management School (2018), ESCP Europe in Paris (2018), and NOVA School of Business and Economics (2018), Annual Corporate Finance Conference (2018) , European Finance Association (2020).

We find that better financial wellness improves labor productivity facilitating firms' achievement of their performance targets while engaging less in real activities manipulation.
Presentation: Annual Congress of the European Accounting Association (2024) (scheduled), American Accounting Association Annual meeting (2020).

We study the effect of information disclosure on banks' portfolio risk. We cast a simple banking system into a general equilibrium model with trading frictions. We find that the information disclosure is expected to increase the portfolio riskiness for a non-negligible fraction of banks and that the magnitude of this effect depends on the structure of the banking system.
Presentation: Portsmouth-Fordham Conference on Banking & Finance (2016), International Workshop on Financial System Architecture & Stability (2016), Workshop on Accounting, Information, and Financial Crises (2015), VGSF Conference - Rust (2015)

Partially subsumed by Financially Stressed Employees.
Using the state-level generosity of consumer bankruptcy laws, this paper quantifies the effect of employees' financial well-being on corporate performance and external financing. My findings suggest that policies targeting individuals' financial well-being have substantial spillover effects on corporate performance and borrowing capacity.
Presentation: CEPR Second Annual Conference on Financial Economics at Imperial College Business School - Doctoral Poster Session (2017), Brown Bag Seminar at Bocconi University (2017), VGSF Conference - Vienna (2017), Lancaster University Management School (2018), ESCP Europe in Paris (2018), and NOVA School of Business and Economics (2018), Annual Corporate Finance Conference (2018) , European Finance Association (2020).

Partially subsumed by Financial Resilience in Labor Negotiations.
I find that firms increase the fraction of long-term debt as a response to unionization while keeping their leverage ratio unchanged. My findings support the view that bond market values positively the presence of powerful non-financial stakeholders with aligned interests and incentives to monitor firms' policies.
Presentation: AFA Meeting Chicago - Doctoral Poster Session (2017), FMA Doctoral Student Consortium - Las Vegas (2016), VGSF Conference - Baden (2016).