Jonathan M. Karpoff

Bio

Summer 2012

Jonathan M. Karpoff is the Washington Mutual Endowed Chair in Innovation and Professor of Finance at the University of Washington’s Michael G. Foster School of Business. Jon also serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Managerial and Decision Economics, and Management Science, and is a member of the Board of Trustees for The Financial Management Association International. Jon received his BA (1978) from the University of Alaska - Anchorage, and his MA (1980) and Ph.D (1982) degrees from UCLA. He has held appointments as the John M. Olin Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business (1998) and as the Visiting Alumni Professor of Finance and Alumni Research Scholar at the Emory University’s Goizueta Business School (2000-02).

Jon’s research seeks to understand how Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand works, or does not work, to coordinate economic activities and promote social well-being. This research addresses a wide range of topics, including fisheries management, natural resource regulation, trading volume, insider trading, dividend policy, organizational structure and performance, antitakeover regulation, shareholder activism, corporate governance, corporate boards, and the causes and consequences of corporate misconduct. In 2003 Jon was awarded the Griliches Prize in Empirical Economics for his research on leadership in arctic exploration. His research on corporate financial scandals was recognized with the Best Paper Award at the University of Chicago’s CRSP Forum in 2006 and the William F. Sharpe (JFQA) Best Paper Award in 2009. Different papers won the CRSP Forum Best Paper Award again in 2008, the Best Paper Award at the George Mason University Conference on Corporate Governance and Fraud Prevention in 2009, and the Financial Research Association Conference in 2011. Jon’s work frequently is cited in media outlets – including The New York Times, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, and National Public Radio.

Jon served as President of The Financial Management Association International for 2007-08, Director of the UW’s CFO Forum from 2004-2007, Managing Editor of the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis from 1989-2003, and Associate Editor of The Journal of Finance from 2008-2012.  He also was the founding Director of the University of Washington’s innovative Environmental Management Program.  In recent years Jon has become active in executive education, and has given lectures, seminars, and classes to audiences in Japan, Hong Kong, Germany, Portugal, South Africa, The Netherlands, and other domestic and international locations.  Jon’s personal interests include mountaineering and Adventure Skate Skiing, a term he helped invent.