Penn State · Smeal College of Business Visiting @ Tuck, Dartmouth — Fall 2025

Alexei Zhdanov

Professor of Finance working at the intersection of corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions, empirical asset pricing, and derivatives.

Alexei Zhdanov Professor of Finance

Field

Finance

Institution

Smeal College of Business

Doctorate

University of Rochester, 2005

Editorial

Assoc. Editor, JCF

01 — About

A career spanning theory,
data, and markets.

Alexei Zhdanov is a Professor of Finance at Penn State University's Smeal College of Business. He holds a Ph.D. in finance from the University of Rochester's William E. Simon School of Business, and previously held faculty positions at the Swiss Finance Institute, the University of Lausanne, and George Mason University.

His industry experience includes research and portfolio management at PanAgora Asset Management in Boston — a top-ranked quantitative investment firm — a senior economist role at Cornerstone Research in New York, and several years in commercial banking at a large international bank in Russia.

His work examines how real options, strategic interaction, and information frictions shape corporate decisions and asset prices — from the dynamics of mergers and acquisitions to the pricing of equity and derivative claims.

Alexei Zhdanov

A career spanning theory,data, and markets.

Education & experience.

Publications & working papers.

Cheap Options Are Expensive

Venture Capital Investments and Merger and Acquisition Activity around the World

Takeover Protections and Asset Prices

Optimal Capital Structure with Imperfect Competition

Maturity Driven Mispricing of Options

Does the Market Correctly Value Investment Options?

Product Market Competition and Industry Structure

Equity Misvaluation and Default Options

Distress Anomaly and Shareholder Risk: International Evidence

Financing Investment: The Choice between Public and Private Debt

Investment Opportunities and Bankruptcy Prediction

R&D and the Incentives from Merger and Acquisition Activity

Convertible Debt and Investment Timing

Real Options, Volatility, and Stock Returns

A Theory of Strategic Mergers

A Theory of Merger-Driven IPOs

Accelerated Investment in the Presence of Risky Debt

Financing and Takeovers

Earnings and Equity Valuation in the Biotech Industry: Theory and Evidence

Competitive Equilibrium with Debt

The Dynamics of Mergers and Acquisitions

Acquihires, Exit Options and Startup Financing

A Tale of Two Anomalies: Value, Momentum, and Risk Sentiment

Short Interest and Investment

Reg SHO and Mispricing: The Role of Firm Characteristics

Mispriced Equity, Default Likelihood, and Credit Rating Accuracy

Misvaluation and Return Anomalies in Distress Stocks

A career spanning theory,
data, and markets.