Matti Keloharju

Professor
Room: G2.05
Phone: +358 9 431 38486
Office hours: Friday 12:15 - 13:15

You are currently teaching Corporate Finance and Advanced Corporate Finance. What other courses have you taught in the past? (In the future?)

In this school I have taught Managerial finance in the English track and a similar course on the MBA side. On the MBA side I've also taught the Investment banking course, which was also held Tampere. Abroad I've taught at UCLA, where I held an intermediate course, which combined issues that are covered here in the Investments and Corporate finance courses. What comes to the future of my current courses I expect no major changes. Some changes are of course made all the time according to the feedback I get from the students.

You have worked at HSE for quite a long time. What have you done before? What motivated your decision to be a researcher?

I have mainly been teaching here, but my academic career has included some assignments in abroad, for instance 3 years at UCLA. When I graduated, I thought that I could continue my studies and work at the same time. However, these plans changed quite soon. Thus, I managed to have a "real work" only for a short period of time after graduating. The fact that I knew the work and this house quite well motivated me to choose an academic career. My father also having been a professor in this school further encouraged my choice.

You have been quite active publishing new research. How much time do you manage to spend with your research projects during the university year? (10-20 hours a week, more?)

I wish I could use up to 10-20 hours a week! But the truth is that sometimes there are months that I hardly have any time at all for my research projects. Last year, for instance the changes in the degree program and other administrative work took most of my time. It also seems to me that administrative work as a whole has increased year by year. Luckily, sometimes there are more efficient periods for research, like during the summer for example. Another time consuming events are (supervising) the master's thesis, which tend to concentrate at the end of each semester.

Behavioural finance seems to be a hot topic at the moment; several of our schools professors have published studies in that area. Are there any particular reasons for that?

I feel that it's an interesting subject, with lots of academically interesting innovations. In Finland, we also have a competitive advantage in this area, due to an exceptionally good data base of various institutions. These are the things that have encouraged us to research this area, which has also lead to good results. Naturally this area has also interested researchers around the world.

How much do current finance students differ from those, say 10 years ago?

10 years ago the faculty was much smaller and thus enabled us to know the students better. On the other hand, with a larger faculty we're able to provide students with a better education due to a wider course selection and higher quality. From a researcher's point of view the larger staff gives us more possibilities to research and co-operate with each others. As a whole I don't think that the students differ a lot. There has always been very career oriented persons and those who take things in a more relaxed way.

Do you have any reading suggestions?

If I had to mention one, it would definitely be Brealey&Myers: Principles of Corporate Finance. From a more entertaining side, Liar's poker is a good choice, but I would also recommend a Finnish book: Minä, Christopher Wegelius. It is a book broadening perspectives, and has also been our course book and can be found from the schools library.