About Me
Daniel Ferreira

I am an economist by training (and by practice) with interests in applied topics concerning firms and all forms of businesses more generally. At LSE, I've been affiliated with both Management and Finance departments, although recently I've been just with the latter (mostly due to logistical, not only intellectual reasons). Most of my research falls under the label of Corporate Finance and Governance, but some of it would be better classified as Organizational Economics or Strategy, and some perhaps should be called Applied Microeconomics.

I write empirical and theoretical papers (almost always with the help of many terrific co-authors) dealing with real-world questions. I appreciate and value technical and literature-driven research, but that's not what I do. However, I am also aware that an excessive emphasis on getting quick answers to pressing questions may lead to poor-quality research. Doing applied work must not be an excuse for sloppiness and lack of rigour; I try to keep these principles at heart and eventually find myself dealing with some more technical issues. But when forced to make choices, I usually opt for simple models and empirics, and I dislike research that uses technical prowess as a smoke screen to conceal fundamental problems (such as lack of creativity, originality or relevance).

I am also an avid consumer of business-related research produced by scholars in related disciplines, such as Accounting, Law, and the Management sub-disciplines. I wouldn't go as far as to claim that my own research is interdisciplinary -- it's mostly applied economics -- but I believe that my research is informed by these other fields.

I believe that the academic game should be played according to the implicitly-agreed universal rules: publish in the best possible journals in your field and hope to have an impact. Although impact is the ultimate goal, publishing is a necessary step towards that goal. Accordingly, I usually try to get most of my papers into the best finance journals, although obviously I only rarely succeed.

It's tempting to try to discredit the journals that don't accept one's papers, but I normally try hard to fight off such self-serving impulses. I take the hit and try again. Some of my papers are a better fit for economics journals, and sometimes accounting or even management journals, so I am happy to try these journals as well. Obviously, economics and accounting also have very high hurdles for publication, so I try to choose journals on the basis of fit rather than on perceived difficulty.

I've achieved some moderate success in publications and impact. I have published in all three of the top finance journals (JF, JFE and RFS), as well as in some of the top journals in economics (REStud) and accounting (JAE), and also in some good specialist journals (RAND and Economic Theory). Some of my articles are cited very frequently. Here is my Google Scholar profile, which is an imperfect but increasingly accurate tool for tracking citations.

I am well aware of the trade-off between teaching and research. In practice though, I resolve this trade-off by tilting the work-leisure choice towards the former. I don't think it is acceptable to be a sloppy teacher. I truly enjoy teaching and spend a lot of time preparing for it.

I don't see teaching as an extension of my own research. In fact, I think that one of the most rewarding aspects of not being in an economics department is not having to teach courses that are just watered-down versions of serious economic research. I love teaching useful, applied aspects of the topics, with real world examples and hands-on applications. I am a big enthusiast of the case study method; I like getting students involved in collective problem solving and I enjoy learning from them as well. On the basis of my experience and student feedback, I believe that students often like my approach to teaching.