Central bank emotions and US stock market
Main Conferences/Seminars: JAAF meeting Dubai.with E. PolyzosSubmitted to Q1 journalThis paper examines how emotions and sentiment in Federal Reserve speeches affect stock market behavior beyond monetary policy actions. Using machine learning to create a novel dataset of emotion metrics from central bank communications, we demonstrate that specific emotions - particularly anger, fear, trust, surprise, and uncertainty - significantly influence abnormal trading volume, returns, and volatility.Do female managers make socially responsible investment decisions?
Main Conferences/Seminars: Workshop on Sutainable Finance , Pariswith N. Dimic, E. Koll and Vanja PiljakSubmitted to Q1 journalThis study finds that mutual funds managed or co-managed by women exhibit higher sustainability scores, suggesting that gender diversity influences socially responsible investment practices. The results highlight the role of female fund managers in promoting corporate social responsibility within the financial industry.Do mutual funds greenwash? Evidence from Fund Name Changes
Main Conferences/Seminars: 2022 Asian FA meeting, 2022 Financial Markets and Corporate Governance conference, University of St. Gallen, Cornell University, 2020 Davos finance research meeting.with A. Cochardt and S. Hellerunder revisionThis paper investigates whether mutual funds that introduce sustainability-related buzzwords in their names actually shift their focus to sustainable investing following the name change. Relatively less successful funds tend to engage in such rebrandings to regain investor flows. Following the name change, funds improve their portfolio sustainability scores by imposing negative screens on poor-sustainability-performing firms.Revealed Beliefs about Responsible Investing: Evidence from Mutual Fund Managers
Media Coverage: bloomberg.com (by Matt Levine)with M. Ceccarell, A. Wagner and S. Ramellias of 2026 the paper is undergoing revision and data updateWhat do asset managers believe regarding the financial performance of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investment strategies? We address this question by exploring the relationship between fund managers’ co-ownership and portfolio ESG performance. Managers with more “skin in the game” exhibit significantly lower ESG performance in funds they manage than their peers. ESG performance is sensitive to changes in managerial ownership.Birth order and fund manager's trading behavior: Role of sibling rivalry (2025) (joint with V. Agarwal & A. Cochardt), J. of Corporate Finance, 95
First offshore bond issuances and firm valuation (2022) (joint with Nebojsa Dimic and Vanja Piljak) International Review of Financial Analysis, vol. 83
Bond–Equity Yield Ratio Market Timing in Emerging (2019) (joint with Nebojsa Dimic and Janne Äijö) Journal of Emerging Market Finance, 18, 1, 52-79
Investor sentiment, soccer games and stock returns (2018) (joint with Nebojsa Dimic, Manfred Neudl, and Janne Äijö) Research in International Business and Finance, 43, 90-98
The effect of political risk on currency carry trades (2016) (joint with Nebojsa Dimic and Vanja Piljak) Finance Research Letters 19, 75-78
Benefits of wavelet-based carry trade diversification (2015) (joint Janne Äijö) Research in International Business and Finance, 34, 17-32
In Military We Trust: The Effect of Managers’ Military Background on Mutual Fund Flows
Pemanent Revise and Resubmit in the Journal of Financial Economics (not publishable)Main Conferences: NBER SI 2019 Asset Pricing, SFI 2019, CFR Cologne 2019, SFA 2019Media Coverage: citywireusa.com, fin-matters.comAwards: American Association of Individual Investors Best Paper Award 2019with A. Cochardt and S. HellerThis paper shows that trust-building characteristics of fund managers affect purchase decisions of mutual fund investors. Results show that funds with ex-military managers have up to 6.5% higher annualized growth relative to other funds. Investor inclination toward military managers strengthens with the manager’s military profile and its salience, and the nationwide confidence in the military.Lasse Heje Pedersen: Efficiently inefficient: how smart money invests and market prices are determined (2020) Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, 34 (1), 129-131
Essays on currency anomalies (2016) Publisher: Vaasan yliopisto