Assistant Professor of Finance
Program Director, MS in Finance
Kogod School of Business
American University
Email: asanati@american.edu
CV | Google Scholar | SSRN | Official profile | LinkedIn
Research interests: corporate finance, capital raising, equity financing, public vs private financing, private markets, capital structure, dynamic structural models.
"How Does the Stock Market Absorb Shocks?" with Murray Frank.
Journal of Financial Economics, 2018. [SSRN version] [Internet Appendix] [Replication package]
"Financing Corporate Growth" with Murray Frank.
Review of Financial Studies, 2021. [SSRN version] [Internet Appendix] [Replication package]
"Dissecting the Listing Gap: Mergers, Private Equity, or Regulation?" with Gabriele Lattanzio and William Megginson.
Journal of Financial Markets, 2023. [SSRN version] [Internet Appendix]
In media: Deutsche Welle (DW) News, Sherwood News, Columbia Law School Blue Sky blog, Kogod Research News
Policy: 2024 Annual Report to the Congress by the SEC Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation
"How Does Labor Mobility Affect Corporate Leverage and Investment?"
Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Forthcoming. [SSRN version] [Internet Appendix]
"How Does Removing the Tax Benefits of Debt Affect Firms? Evidence from the 2017 US Tax Reform" with Mehdi Beyhaghi.
Review of Financial Studies, Forthcoming. [Internet Appendix]
In media: Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog, Duke University's FinReg Blog
Book Chapter:
"The Trade-off Theory of Corporate Capital Structure" with Hengjie Ai and Murray Frank.
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Economics and Finance, 2021. [published version]
"Comparing Capital Allocation Efficiency in Public and Private Equity Markets" with Ioannis Spyridopoulos. [Internet Appendix]
In media: Sherwood News, Better Markets, Duke University's FinReg Blog
Presentations: 2025 European Finance Association (scheduled), 2025 Columbia PE Conference, 2024 NBER SI Capital Markets and the Economy, 2024 CEPR/Study Center Gerzensee European Summer Symposium in Financial Markets (ESSFM), 2023 FMA, 2023 SFA, 2023 DC Juniors Finance Conference, University of Minnesota F&F Conference (best paper award), US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) (scheduled), International Monetary Fund (IMF), American University, Tulane University, University of Alabama, UMass Amherst, University of Texas at Dallas, University of Tennessee, UVA Darden.
"Monetary Policy and Corporate Investment: The Equity Financing Channel" with Mehdi Beyhaghi, Murray Frank, and Ping McLemore (Update coming soon!)
Presentations: 2025 European Finance Association (scheduled), 2025 FIRS (scheduled), 2025 MFA, 2024 NFA, 2024 SFA, 2024 CEPR/Study Center Gerzensee European Summer Symposium in Financial Markets (ESSFM), 2024 Heterogeneous Agent Macro Meeting at the Federal Reserve Board, 2024 Firm Heterogeneity & Macroeconomics Workshop, 2024 Minnesota Corporate Finance Conference, International Monetary Fund (IMF), American University, University of Kentucky, University of Minnesota, Virtual Corporate Finance Seminar Series.
"How Do Firms Respond to Changes in Investor Demand? A Demand System Approachs" with David Stillerman. Draft Coming Soon (available upon request)
"Rational Stock Market Catering" with Murray Frank. [Internet Appendix]
Presentations: Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB), Peking University, Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance of Tsinghua University, and University of Minnesota
"The Impact of Data Processing and AI Adoption on Firms' Productivity and Financing" with Ioannis Spyridopoulos. [In progress at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)]
"How Does the Rise of Private Equity Affect Household Portfolios?"
"Corporate Debt Constraints" with Mehdi Beyhaghi and Murray Frank.
American University, Kogod School of Business.
Advanced Quant Methods and Machine Learning in Finance (G), 2022--present.
Business Finance (UG), 2018--2024.
University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management.
Finance Fundamentals (UG), 2015--2016.
Media and Blogs:
Better Markets on Comparing Capital Allocation Efficiency in Public and Private Equity Markets
Deutsche Welle (DW) News on the decline in the number of publicly listed firms in developed countries
The GW Hatchet on volatility in university endowment valuations
Sherwood News on the decline in the number of publicly listed firms in the US
AU's Blog Post on Machine Learning and AI education through my course “Advanced Quant Methods and Machine Learning in Finance”
WalletHub on Personal Loans
Duke University's FinReg Blog on Comparing Capital Allocation Efficiency in Public and Private Equity Markets
Kogod Research News on Dissecting the Listing Gap: Mergers, Private Equity, or Regulation?
Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog on How Does Removing the Tax Benefits of Debt Affect Firms? Evidence from the 2017 US Tax Reform
Duke University's FinReg Blog on How Does Removing the Tax Benefits of Debt Affect Firms? Evidence from the 2017 US Tax Reform
Columbia Law School Blue Sky blog on Dissecting the Listing Gap: Mergers, Private Equity, or Regulation?
Conference Discussions:
2025 Midwest Finance Association, Discussion of "Monopolizing Minds: How M&As Stifle Innovation Through Labor Market Power" by Alex He and Sophia Xue
2025 Midwest Finance Association, Discussion of "Government Arrears and Corporate Policies: Lessons from a Natural Experiment" by Jose Abad, Vincente Bermejo, Vincente Cunat, and Rafael Zambrana
2024 Oxford Sustainable Private Markets Conference, Discussion of "Private Equity and Financial Adviser Misconduct" by Albert Sheen, Youchang Wu, and Yuwen Yuan
2024 Midwest Finance Association, Discussion of "After the Storm: How Emergency Liquidity Helps Small Businesses Following Natural Disasters" by Benjamin Collier, Sabrina Howell, and Lea Rendell
2022 Eastern Finance Association, Discussion of "Sovereign Wealth Funds and the Cost of Debt: Evidence from Syndicated Loans" by Ruiyuan Chen, Feiyu Liu, and Yijia Zhao
2019 Midwest Finance Association, Discussion of "Composition of Cash Flow Shocks and Debt Financing" by Seong Byun, Valery Polkovnichenko, and Michael Rebello
2019 DC Juniors Finance Conference, Discussion of "Regional Spillovers through Multi-Market Firms: The Quality Downgrading Channel" by Jay Hyun and Ryan Kim
2018 Midwest Finance Association, Discussion of "Health Care Costs, Worker Mobility, and Firm Leverage" by Lakshmi Naaraayanan and Manpreet Singh
2018 Eastern Finance Association, Discussion of "Pension Risk Overhand and the Cost of Debt" by Ruiqing Shao, Qingyin Tang, Junbo Wang, Chunchi Wu, and Ting Zhang