Asaf Bernstein

Associate Professor of Finance at University of Colorado at Boulder Leeds School of Business

[Asaf Bernstein @ProfAsaf]

🚨 New unique postdoc (Tilburg & Boulder collab) in Household / Consumer Finance. Administrative data, no teaching, Europe-based with funded US visits/collaboration.

Strong fit for empirical researchers working with microdata.
Apply: https://t.co/tQAOTvczUx

[QJE @QJEHarvard]

#QJE May 2024, #8, “The Mortgage Piggy Bank: Building Wealth through Amortization,” by Bernstein (@ProfAsaf) and Koudijs: https://t.co/YuPxIwWSbh

[QJE @QJEHarvard]

Recently accepted by #QJE, “The Mortgage Piggy Bank: Building Wealth through Amortization,” by Bernstein (@ProfAsaf) and Koudijs: https://t.co/YuPxIwWSbh

[Tony Cookson @prof_cookson]

Hey all -- only 3 days until the *new and improved* abstract submission deadline for the Boulder Summer Conference.

This is one of my favorite conferences out there for generating ideas because you'll run into people in different disciplines.

Submit and come join us.

[Tony Cookson @prof_cookson]

Only 22 days until the submission deadline.

You might ask “who warns you at the 22 day mark?”

To that, I ask “who has a submission deadline 4 days after Christmas?”

[Asaf Bernstein @ProfAsaf]

@prof_cookson For every ten likes I'll ask ChatGPT to make the conference even better (am I doing that right?)

[Asaf Bernstein @ProfAsaf]

I'm so thrilled to be taking the torch from @prof_cookson on the finance side for 15th yr of this incredible conference! Reminder to submit your consumer/household finance papers (or just abstracts) by 12/29 and join us for cutting-edge work/fun hikes in Boulder.

[Professor Joe Gladstone @JoeJGladstone]

*Calling all personal finance geeks* I encourage you to come to the Boulder Summer Conference on Consumer Financial Decision Making! This is the world’s foremost conference on this topic - we also go hiking! Abstract submission deadline is Dec 29th.

https://t.co/TDv0FhGay7

[Tania Babina 🇺🇸 🇺🇦 @TaniaBabina]

What a great honor to have our paper
"Financial Disruptions and the Organization of Innovation: Evidence from the Great Depression"
as the Editors's choice in the November issue of the Review of Financial Studies!

https://t.co/kld6iDd6dN

Joint work with @ProfAsaf @filomezza

[Tony Cookson @prof_cookson]

We are hiring at the assistant professor level!

https://t.co/ycGC1diTXL

If you're on the market, please apply to join our group, which includes @CSpaenjers, @EmilyAGallaghe1, @ProfAsaf, @LogicalShaun, @Ed_Van_Wesep, @Jaeheeasy, @BillingsEcon and others not on X.

[Jamie Catherwood @InvestorAmnesia]

Did you know there were no publicly available bond ratings before 1909?

Curious how the first ratings impacted bond yields? Find out below...

JOHN MOODY: RATINGS PIONEER

In April 1909, John Moody (Moody's founder) used publicly available information to publish a book categorizing railroad bonds into letter-graded ratings reflecting their credit risk.

There were no regulatory implications for these ratings, but lower than market-implied ratings raised secondary market bond yields.

In other words, yields on lower rated bonds rose to reflect the increased risk (as measured by Moody).

Additionally, rated bonds experienced a notable reduction in bid-ask spreads, and increased liquidity.

Why? Moody's ratings reduced information asymmetries and made investors feel more comfortable about their purchases.

The chart below shows the difference in yields for railroads that received a negative ratings surprise, and those that did not.

"The figure presents a clear indication that rating surprises did indeed change bonds’ yields...

immediately after the introduction of the ratings the difference begins to increase, with the railroads that received a negative surprise commanding higher yields...

with the yields on bonds whose ratings was a negative surprise being about 20 basis points higher..."

A POINT TO PONDER

What I find really interesting about this anecdote is the fact that all the information Moody used was already public.

Investors already had access to this information! Yet, bond yields only reacted when Moody aggregated it all into a simple rating that investors could easily digest and invest accordingly.

Source paper and further reading below!

[Leeds School of Business @leedsbiz]

Congratulations to Leeds faculty members Asaf Bernstein, David Drake, Nathan Marshall and Scott Shriver! They have been awarded tenure: https://t.co/6zTdPtAmfv

[Society for Financial Studies @SFSjournals]

#RFS #Forthcoming: Financial Disruptions and the Organization of Innovation: Evidence from the Great Depression

Tania Babina @TaniaBabina @Columbia_Biz
Asaf Bernstein @ProfAsaf @leedsbiz
Filippo Mezzanotti @filomezza @KelloggSchool

https://t.co/mRB0dJSU2n

[NBER @nberpubs]

The first securities ratings, which were sold to investors rather than issuers and had no regulatory implications, improved the functioning of financial markets, from @ProfAsaf Carola Frydman, and Eric Hilt https://t.co/AW8R0nOmFV

[Tony Cookson @prof_cookson]

I'm excited for our in-person Boulder Summer Conference on Consumer Financial Decision Making. The program and registration links are online here:

https://t.co/fJ0FFFVcF9

We have a uniquely interdisciplinary and collaborative format, which is sure to generate new ideas.

[Asaf Bernstein @ProfAsaf]

@stroebel_econ @JofFinance @ndreas_f @TRamadorai @paulgp @ihacamo @tylersmuir Thank you so much @stroebel_econ (and as others said an even bigger congratulations to you as well - so well deserved)!

[Tony Cookson @prof_cookson]

Tagging supporters, former presenters, and repeat visitors. Please boost our signal. cc @gk_ben, @abbysussman, @ProfShu, @profiverson, @SeanKHiggins, @ProfAsaf, @NathanBlascak, @BetseyStevenson, @carly_urban, @AnthonyDeFusco, @EmilyAGallaghe1, @HirshmanSam

[Tony Cookson @prof_cookson]

We are hiring at the @leedsbiz finance division. We have two lines—one Assistant Professor and one Associate Professor.

Apply soon (links in 🧵 ) to join me, @CSpaenjers, @Ed_Van_Wesep, @ProfAsaf, @EmilyAGallaghe1, @LogicalShaun and many others not on Twitter.

Shares welcome

[Tony Cookson @prof_cookson]

Hard to believe it is the end of August today. Perhaps, that makes you think of snow or ski conferences.

If not, here’s your reminder that the deadline for submitting to the Colorado Finance Summit is today.

https://t.co/6WnM93D48W

Submit your best!

[Alex Edmans @aedmans]

Houses exposed to sea level rise are owned significantly more by Republicans and less by Democrats. Those most likely to vote against climate-friendly policies may bear the cost of climate change. Forthcoming in @J_Fin_Economics by @ProfAsaf @BillingsEcon https://t.co/jzGe2gpPdh

[Mahyar Kargar @mahyarkargar]

How important are the shortfalls in state public pensions systems? My paper https://t.co/V3eEglPUpZ with @darrenaiello @ProfAsaf Ryan Lewis and Michael Schwert on @nberpubs measures their economic burden on households #EconTwitter @BYUMarriott @leedsbiz @giesbusiness @Wharton 1/N