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Professor Margarita Tsoutsoura, PhD

Current Position

since 1/23

Research Fellow Department of Laws, Regulations and Factor Markets

Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) – Member of the Leibniz Association

since 1/22

Associate Professor of Finance

Washington University

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Research Interests
  • corporate finance
  • entrepreneurship
  • innovation

Margarita Tsoutsoura joined the Department of Laws, Regulations and Factor Markets as a Research Fellow in April 2023. Her research focuses on corporate finance, entrepreneurship, and innovation.

Margarita Tsoutsoura is Associate Professor of Finance at Olin Business School, at the Washington University in St. Louis. She is also Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, Research Fellow at CEPR and Research Member at ECGI.

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Professor Margarita Tsoutsoura, PhD
- Department Laws, Regulations and Factor Markets
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Publications

Citations
2825

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Cross-Subsidization of Bad Credit in a Lending Crisis

Nikolaos Artavanis Brian Lee Stavros Panageas Margarita Tsoutsoura

in: Review of Financial Studies, No. 5, 2025

Abstract

<p>We study the corporate-loan pricing decisions of a major, systemic bank during the Greek financial crisis. A unique aspect of our data set is that we observe both the actual interest rate and the “break-even rate” (BE rate) of each loan, as computed by the bank’s own loan-pricing department (in effect, the loan’s marginal cost). We document that low-BE-rate (safer) borrowers are charged significant markups, whereas high-BE-rate (riskier) borrowers are charged smaller and even negative markups. We rationalize this de facto cross-subsidization through the lens of a dynamic model featuring depressed collateral values, impaired capital-market access, and limit pricing.</p>

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Political Polarization and Finance

Elisabeth Kempf Margarita Tsoutsoura

in: Annual Review of Financial Economics, November 2024

Abstract

<p>We review an empirical literature that studies how political polarization affects financial decisions. We first discuss the degree of partisan segregation in finance and corporate America, the mechanisms through which partisanship may influence financial decisions, and the available data sources used to infer individuals’ partisan leanings. We then describe and discuss the empirical evidence. Our review suggests an economically large and often growing partisan gap in the financial decisions of households, corporate executives, and financial intermediaries. Partisan alignment between individuals explains team and financial relationship formation, with initial evidence suggesting that high levels of partisan homogeneity may be associated with economic costs. We conclude by proposing several promising directions for future research.</p>

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The Labor Effects of Judicial Bias in Bankruptcy

Aloisio Araujo Rafael Ferreira Spyridon Lagaras Flavio Moraes Jacopo Ponticelli Margarita Tsoutsoura

in: Journal of Financial Economics, No. 2, 2023

Abstract

We study the effect of judicial bias favoring firm continuation in bankruptcy on the labor market outcomes of employees by exploiting the random assignment of cases across courts in the State of São Paulo in Brazil. Employees of firms assigned to courts that favor firm continuation are more likely to stay with their employer, but they earn, on average, lower wages three to five years after bankruptcy. We discuss several potential mechanisms that can rationalize this result, and provide evidence that imperfect information about outside options in the local labor market and adjustment costs associated with job change play an important role.

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