Michel A. Robe


Current Position

            Associate Professor of Finance (with tenure) and Kogod Endowed Fellow
            Kogod School of Business at American University, Washington, DC 20016
 
Non-Academic Experience

            Visiting Senior Financial Economist (IPA), U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 2006
 
Education

May 1995        Ph.D. in Financial Economics, Carnegie Mellon University
            May 1991        M.S. in Finance, Carnegie Mellon University
            Sept.1988        Licence en Administration des Affaires, Université de Liège, Belgium
 
Research Interests (also see Publications ; Working Papers ; and Research Awards and Grants )
               
            Areas:             Financial Markets, Corporate finance & International financial economics
            Topics:                        Role of different types of traders in financial markets, insider trading
                                                Informational issues in finance, especially corporate governance ad financial contracting
                                                Welfare costs of economic fluctuations, risk sharing puzzles, international financial flows

Teaching Honors (also see Teaching Ratings and Research Awards and Grants )

            2004 & 2003 MBA Professor of the Year Runner-up, Kogod School of Business at American University

            1999 Teacher of the Year Nominee, Faculty of Management, McGill University, Montreal

            1994 Best Student Teacher, G.S.I.A., Carnegie Mellon University

Recent Working Papers

"Market Growth, Trader Participation and Prices in Energy Futures Markets" (joint with M. Haigh, J. Harris and J. Overdahl; Featured in Business Week, February 2007)

"Penalties and Optimality in Financial Contracts: Taking Stock" (joint with P.-A. Michel & A-M Steiger; revise/submit; Top-Ten New Download, SSRN)

 "Market Incompleteness & the Equity Premium Puzzle: Evidence from State-Level Data" (CIRANO WP2004s54; joint w. K. Jacobs & S. Pallage; under review)

 "The States vs. the states: On the Welfare Costs of Aggregate Volatility in the U.S." (joint w. S. Pallage; Top-Ten New Download, SSRN)

 "On the Potential of Foreign Aid as Insurance" (CIRPEE WP0404; joint with S. Pallage & C. Berube)

 "Corporate Finance, Meet Development Assistance: Adverse Selection & the Procyclicality of Foreign Aid" (joint w. S. Pallage)

 "Limited Liability Rules, Financial Innovation and Capital Structure Complexity" (Top-Ten New Download, SSRN; under review)

 "How Costly Are Limited Liability Rules? " (All-Time Top-Ten Download , LSN - Social Science Research Network)

"Managerial Myopia, Signaling Costs and the Informativeness of Corporate Payout Policy"

Refereed Journal Articles

“On the Potential of Foreign Aid as Insurance (with S. Pallage & C. Bérubé)
    IMF Staff Papers, 53 (3), December 2006, pp. 451-75.

“The Impact of Illegal Trading in Dealer and Specialist Markets” (joint w. Pat Fishe)
    Journal of Financial Economics, 71 (3), March 2004, pp. 461-88

“On The Welfare Cost of Economic Fluctuations in Developing Countries” (joint w. Stéphane Pallage )
             International Economic Review,
44 (2), May 2003, pp. 677-98

“What Can We Learn from Simulating a Standard Financial Agency Model”
            Economics Letters, 73 (2), November 2001, pp. 136-47

“Foreign Aid and the Business Cycle” (joint w. Stéphane Pallage )
            Review of International Economics, 9 (4), November 2001, pp. 637-68 -- Special Issue in honor of Nobel winner R. Mundell

“Optimal vs. Traditional Securities under Moral Hazard”
            Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 34 (2), June 1999, pp. 261-89 (lead paper)

“The Lintner model, Legislation, Inflation, Rational Forecasts and Large Firms Dividend Policy”
            Cahiers Economiques de Bruxelles, No.125, 1st trimester 1990, pp. 3-25  (lead paper

Book Chapter

"De l’Optimalité de la Responsabilité Limitée dans les Contrats Financiers" (joint with P.-A. Michel)
in Finances publiques, Finances privées, P. Pestieau & B. Jurion (Eds.), Editions de l'ULg -- Luc Pire, Brussels, March 2000

Conference Proceedings

        "Dividend Signaling Costs: Coarse vs. Separating Equilibria"
            abstracted in the Proceedings of 1995 Meeting of the American Finance Association
            Journal of Finance, 50 (3), July 1995, pp.1000-1001

       "Product Market Considerations and Corporate Payout Policy"
            Proceedings of the 1992 Meeting of the European Finance Association , August 1992, Lisbon, Portugal

Teaching Experience: Executive Education

International Finance
MSF Program, Luxembourg School of Finance
Overall Performance Rating, 2004-2006: "Excellent"
'
FIN 631 Cases in International Financial Management
MIBS Program, School of Business, University of Miami
Overall Instructor Rating, with 5 being the highest possible score:
Spring 1998: 5; Spring 1997: 4.84

Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management
Moroccan Financial Sector Development Program,
USAID and Moroccan Department of the Treasury,Casablanca, Morocco
Overall Performance Rating, July 1995: "Absolutely Outstanding"
 

Teaching Experience: Graduate Courses

FIN-674 Derivatives & Risk Management
Kogod School of Business at AU, Washington DC
Overall Instructor Rating, with 6 being the highest possible score:
Spring 2005: 5.68; Spring 2004: 5.55

FIN-685 Derivatives
Kogod School of Business at AU, Washington DC
Overall Instructor Rating, with 6 being the highest possible score:
Spring 2003: 5.31; Spring 2001: 5.4; Spring 2002 (co-taught with R. Losey): 4.7

FIN-674 Futures
Kogod School of Business at AU, Washington DC
Overall Instructor Rating, with 6 being the highest possible score:
Spring 2001: 5.62; Spring 2000: 4.9

FIN-672 Investments
Kogod School of Business at AU, Washington DC
Overall Instructor Rating, with 6 being the highest possible score:
Spring 2005: 5.42; Fall 2004: 5.31; Spring 2002: 5.2; Spring 2000: 5.0

274-660 Global Investment Management
Faculty of Management, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Overall Instructor Rating, with 6 being the highest possible score:
Winter 1999: TBD

FIN 631 Cases in International Financial Management
MBA Program, School of Business, University of Miami
Overall Instructor Rating, with 5 being the highest possible score:
Spring 1997: 4.92 (631 Q), Spring 1998: 4.4 (631 Q)

FIN 630 International Finance
MBA Program, School of Business, University of Miami
Overall Instructor Rating, with 5 being the highest possible score:
Fall 1997: 4.72 (630 UY) and 4.53 (630 Q); Fall 1996: 4.62;
Fall 1995: 4.59 (630 KY) and 4.50 (630 HI); Spring 1995: 4.50; Fall 1994: 4.13

GPFin II Intensive Seminar in Corporate Finance
Ecole d'Administration des Affaires, Université de Liège, Belgium, Springs 1995 and 1996
 

Teaching Experience: Undergraduate Courses

FIN-465 Derivatives
Kogod School of Business, American University, Washington DC
Overall Instructor Rating, with 6 being the highest possible score:
Spring 2003: 6; Spring 2003: 5.96; Spring 2002 (co-taught with R. Losey): 5.73

FIN-469 Investments Analysis
Kogod School of Business, American University, Washington DC
Overall Instructor Rating, with 6 being the highest possible score:
Fall 2004: 5.57; Spring 2004: 5.56; Fall 2003: 5.93; Spring 2003: 5.76;
Fall 2002
: 5.81; Spring 2002: 5.4; Fall 2001: 5.5; Spring 2001: 5.4; Fall 2000: 4.9 ; Fall 1999: 5.3

274-480 Global Investments Management
Faculty of Management, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Overall Instructor Rating, with 6 being the highest possible score:
Winter 1999: TBD

274-441 Investment and Portfolio Management
Faculty of Management, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Overall Instructor Rating, with 6 being the highest possible score:
Fall 1999: 5.4; Winter 1999: TBD

FIN 431 International Financial Management
School of Business, University of Miami
Overall Instructor Rating, with 5 being the highest possible score:
Spring 1996: 4.57 (431 HI) and 4.38 (431 KX)

FIN 330 International Finance
School of Business, University of Miami
Overall Instructor Rating, with 5 being the highest possible score:
Fall 1996: 4.67; Spring 1995: 4.63; Fall 1994: 3.33

70-494 International Aspects of Finance
Undergraduate Industrial Management Program, Carnegie Mellon University
Overall Instructor Rating, with 5 being the highest possible score:
Spring 1994: 4.78; Spring1993: 4.33

 

Other Teaching Experience

Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management
Institut Cooremans -- Business School of the City of Brussels, Belgium, Spring 1989
Overall Instructor Rating: "Outstanding"

Case Studies in Financial Statements Analysis
Université de Liège, Spring 1989

Case Studies in Management Accounting
Université de Liège, Fall 1988-Spring 1989

Case Studies in Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management
Université de Liège, Fall 1988
 

Research Grants and Fellowships

Kogod Endowed Research Fellow, American University, 2000-2004

University Senate Research Award, American University, 2001-02

James W. McLamore Summer Award in Business, University of Miami, 1995, 1998

Aspirant E. de Barsy, National Fund for Scientific Research of Belgium, 1989-1993

William Larimer Mellon Fellowship, 1989-1992
 

Honors and Awards

Kogod Award for Excellence in Research, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004

Honorary Fellow, Belgian American Educational Foundation, 1990

Prix Memoire Camille Gutt - National Bank of Belgium, 1989

Prix de la B.N.P., Prix Winterthur and Prix A.L.D.Lg for best undergraduate thesis, 1989

Licence obtained Summa Cum Laude with official Congratulations of the Examination Jury, 1988