About

David A. Matsa is the Alan E. Peterson Distinguished Professor of Finance at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research focuses on the connections between labor and financial markets from both corporate and household perspectives. On the corporate side, he studies how human capital influences firms’ evaluation and funding of investment projects. On the household side, he examines how job and financial market instability affect workers’ financial resilience, employment choices, and living conditions. His recent research on corporate governance investigates the determinants and effects of gender diversity among corporate directors and executives. Professor Matsa has published widely in finance and economics, with articles appearing in leading journals such as the American Economic Review, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and the Journal of Finance. Since joining the Kellogg faculty in 2006, he has taught courses in corporate finance and business & society, and has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Finance. He has received numerous research and teaching awards, worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Company, and earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Sociology
• Finance
• Business
• Accounting
• Law
• Library science
• Management
• Economics
• Pedagogy
• Biology

Selected publications

• A Gender Quota for Top Executives: Diversity without Disruption

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2026-01-01

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding
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• A Gender Quota for Top Executives: Diversity without Disruption

  National Bureau of Economic Research · 2026-04-01

  reportOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  We study Germany's landmark quota requiring major public companies to include at least one woman on their top executive teams.The quota increased female representation among top executives by about two-thirds.Firms largely recruited women from outside their networks and without prior public-company top-executive experience, choosing them over male candidates with similar profiles.Most were appointed to HR or niche roles, and there was no increase in female CEOs.We find no significant effects on the female share of managers in lower ranks, policies promoting gender equality, firm value, or performance.Overall, the quota boosted diversity without causing much disruption.

  PublisherDOI

• A Gender Quota for Top Executives: Diversity without Disruption

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2026-01-01

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Did Board Gender Quotas Break the Glass Ceiling in Europe?

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
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• Did Board Gender Quotas Break the Glass Ceiling in Europe?

  AEA Papers and Proceedings · 2025-05-01 · 3 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Nine European countries adopted gender quotas for companies' boards of directors between 2005 and 2021 before the European Parliament adopted an EU-wide quota in 2022. Using 25 years of data, we estimate the quotas' effects on female shares of corporate directors and senior executives of large public companies. We find that while the female share of nonexecutive directors increased by 20 percentage points within 6 years after a quotas' adoption, women's representation among CEOs or other senior executives hardly changed. These results suggest that policymakers interested in increasing gender diversity among senior executives might need to consider more targeted policies.

  PublisherDOI

• Dual Credit Markets: Income Risk, Household Debt, and Consumption

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2024-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
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• KLA-Tencor’s Leverage Decision: Cashing in the Chips

  Kellogg School of Management eBooks · 2024-01-01

  book1st authorCorresponding
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• KLA-Tencor's Leverage Decision: Cashing in the Chips

  Kellogg School of Management Cases · 2024-10-08

  article1st authorCorresponding

  In this case, students will assume the role of a fictional hedge fund analyst, Iván Champeau, who is conducting a pro forma financial analysis of KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ: KLAC), a publicly traded conglomerate in the semiconductor capital equipment industry with a focus on the process-control segment. The case takes place in the summer of 2014, immediately after the June 30 end of KLAC's fiscal year. Champeau feels that KLAC management has been too conservative in its capital structure management and could increase the firm's value by leveraging the company with more debt and using the proceeds to conduct a large share-buyback program. In the case's decision point, students must choose among four options regarding how much debt to recommend that the company issue. The case's flexibility allows it to be taught as an introduction or a more advanced and nuanced approach to the concept of capital structure management using debt's tax shield, counterbalanced by the potential costs of financial distress brought about by taking on more leverage.

  PublisherDOI

• Dual Credit Markets: Income Risk, Household Debt, and Consumption

  National Bureau of Economic Research · 2024-08-01 · 1 citations

  reportOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Many young employees work on a temporary basis, which entails significantly greater income risk than "permanent" work, even for jobs in the same occupation and at a similar wage.We find that this income uncertainty leads lenders to ration credit to temporary workers, precisely at the stage of life when permanent workers rely on mortgages to invest in housing and loans to smooth consumption and purchase durable goods.Labor laws that improve job security for permanent workers create a dual credit market alongside the dual labor market, making it harder for young adults to establish financial independence and new families.

  PublisherDOI

• Dual Credit Markets: Income Risk, Household Debt, and Consumption

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2023-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Jennifer Brown

  University of Utah

  150 shared

• Amalia R. Miller

  National Bureau of Economic Research

  29 shared

• Todd A. Gormley

  Washington University in St. Louis

  28 shared

• Michael Weber

  University of Chicago

  20 shared

• Michael Anderson

  University of California, Berkeley

  11 shared

• Nittai Bergman

  10 shared

• Ravi Jagannathan

  10 shared

• Joanne W. Hsu

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  10 shared

Awards & honors

• John L. Weinberg/IRRCi Research Award, Semi-Finalist (2021)
• Certificate of Impact Teaching Award, Kellogg School of Mana…
• Top-40 Professor Under 40, Poets&Quants (2017)
• IRRC Institute Investor Research Award (2014)
• Certificate of Impact Teaching Award, Kellogg School of Mana…