Hello.  I am the Goldyne and Irwin Hearsh Distinguished Professor of Finance at the Anderson School, UCLA.   I write papers in all areas of finance, but my principal interests are capital markets and information production.   The academic finance profession has given me all that I have and I am committed to its flourishment and improvement.

Working papers:

Following links to Ilaiyaraaja, I mention Lata Mangeshkar, another Indian legend.   First, turning to Ilaiyaraaja, he is the recipient of India's second highest civilian honor, the Padma Vibhushan.  He hails from my Indian state of origin, Tamil Nadu.  You can look up his Wikipedia page.  He is known for outstanding melody, the meshing of Indian and Western orchestration, and the superb use of chorus.  He is also known for the emotional impact his songs and in particular, his orchestration, have on the viewer.   Many of his songs often send people into a trance, no matter what their state of mind.    Ilaiyaraaja has composed more than 7,000 songs but the quality has persevered in spite of the quantity.  Here I want to link to what in my view is some of his finest work (everyone who knows Ilaiyaraaja has a favorites list, but many of these would be common to many such lists). The language is Tamil but translations can be found on the internet in many cases.  Often the sound quality is not the best, but the excellence of the melody and orchestration is always apparent.  One final note: In India, most pop music is essentially film music.  The tradition in this music is to decouple the singer and the on-screen performer.  They are usually different and the performer, when present on screen,  lipsyncs.   There is no concept of "band": the music composer, lyricist, singer, and on-screen performer are each separate entities.  Thus, Ilaiyaraaja is a music composer, but the lyrics are penned and performed by a variety of different people.  The links below are a mixture of video without and with the film picturizations.  One thought: If you listen in, consider listening in to the whole piece without pause.

And below, I link to some of the best work of Lata Mangeshkar, the legendary (late) Indian singer.  She hailed from the Indian state of Maharashtra.  In my view, her control of pitch and notes,  and her ability to convey emotion through song, was unparalleled.    I have not come across any singer with such control, command, and empathy, and such ability to flawlessly hit the high notes.  Judge for yourself: