Hamid Mehran

Hamid Mehran served as a staff economist in the Research & Statistics Group of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Dr. Mehran has taught at Carroll School of Management at Boston College, Columbia Business School, the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, MIT Sloan School of Management, and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He was a research associate at Hewitt Associates and a fellow of the Wharton Financial Institutions Center. His research interest is in corporate finance. He has written widely on the governance of banks and served as guest editor of the Journal of Financial Intermediation special issue “Corporate Governance in the Banking and the Financial Services Industries.” He also edited two special issues of Economic Policy Review: “Corporate Governance: What Do We Know, and What Is Different about Banks?” and “Behavioral Risk Management in the Financial Services Industry: The Role of Culture, Governance, and Financial Reporting.”

Why Stock Buybacks Increase Financial Stability in Banking

New research from SP Kothari, Hamid Mehran and Zirui Song argues that share buybacks - rather than traditional dividends - may actually be safer for financial stability since they offer banks more flexibility and don't signal distress when reduced. The authors show that while dividends create pressure for consistent payments and industry-wide ripple effects when cut, buybacks allow banks to adjust their capital distribution to the present circumstances.

How to Improve Governance of the Boeing Company

Hamid Mehran examines the governance failures at Boeing that led to safety issues with its aircraft and proposes several measures to improve the company's safety culture and accountability. Mehran suggests enhancing board accountability through increased disclosure requirements, improving FAA oversight, fostering a culture that prioritizes safety and employee concerns, and restructuring employee compensation to incentivize teamwork and vigilance in detecting safety issues.

Why It Is Important to Address the Misconduct Cases at the FDIC

Hamid Mehran discusses the recent report on sexual harassment and misconduct at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, highlighting the potential negative impact on financial stability due to the departure of experienced examiners and supervisors. Mehran suggests adopting a clawback scheme in employment contracts for senior employees to foster a healthier work environment and protect the FDIC's most valuable asset, its human talent.

Deferred Bonuses as a Buffer Against Bank Failures

Hamid Mehran discusses proposals for reforming bankers' compensation to better align incentives and risk-taking. Mehran contends market-based, self-regulating compensation structures would enhance governance and financial stability more effectively than punitive bonus caps or clawbacks imposed by regulators.

Short Selling and the Regional Bank Crisis

Capital markets are central to capitalism and the functioning of the US economy. Yet, short-selling, an integral part of price discovery in capital markets, has been blamed as a contributor to the recent banking crisis. Lawmakers and interest groups have labeled short sellers opportunists who prey on small investors and the public without justification. The authors shed light on this debate and question the merit of the allegations.

Stop Blaming Short Sellers for the Banking Crisis

To what degree did banks’ equity price declines trigger deposit withdrawals at recently failed banks? To what degree did the withdrawals trigger declining bank equity prices? Hamid Mehran and Chester Spatt note that in either case, short-selling is not to blame and is, in fact, an essential part of a well-functioning market.

Defer Bank Management’s Compensation for Times of Crisis

Adopting a deferred pay scheme for bank managers would provide them with needed funding during a downturn and would incentivize more conservativism when it comes to risk-taking.

How Financial Contracting Could Help the Police Force Manage Its Aims More Effectively

Hamid Mehran proposes funded deferred pay, an incentive structure to mitigate the risk and costs of police misconduct. To be sure, police are doing a...

Fear of Punishment Distorts Bank Financial Reporting

When bank employees are afraid of punishment from regulators, they are likely to conceal information about their faulty decisions. This in turn distorts the...

Why Financial Regulations Might Fail to Produce Their Desired Outcome: The Case of the Capital Conservation Buffer

The capital conservation buffer (CCB) was created after the 2008 financial crisis, instructing banks to retain their dividends in an escrow account and create a...

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