Research & Policy

My work focuses on the power of corporations and financial markets in the U.S. economy. I research and write about how U.S. corporate and financial policy can be reformed to enable innovation and broadly-shared prosperity. 

Below are selected academic articles, public commentary, and policy publications that focus on corporations and financial markets. For a complete list of my publications, see my CV.

My current book project, Good Company: Economic Policies for Innovative Enterprises (under contract with the University of Chicago Press), will propose a comprehensive set of policies to rebalance power inside corporations to enable innovation and shared prosperity. 

The book builds on previous scholarly research and policy development work that has focused on the harms of shareholder primacy and different policies necessary to rebalance power among corporate stakeholders. I have written about the flawed economic and legal theory of shareholder primacy and why it should be replaced with policies to establish stakeholder governance; written about changing corporate law to increase worker voice through representation on boards and in worker organizations (in a manner that is supportive of and complementary to labor union organizing); and the potential benefits and challenges of increased employee ownership. 

I have written policy briefs and public commentary on many aspects of rebalancing power within corporations, including on Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Accountable Capitalism Act and co-authoring with B Lab a policy agenda for systems change. 

Selected Publications Include:

• The Contribution of Shareholder Primacy to the Racial Wealth Gap

• Economic Democracy at Work

• Economic Policies for Innovative Enterprises and Stakeholder Corp

• From Stakeholder Primacy to Employee Ownership Funds in the United States

• The Potential Benefits of Employee Ownership Funds in the United States

• Towards Accountable Capitalism

I write about the corporate finance practice of stock buybacks, in which publicly-traded corporations boost share prices and executive pay by repurchasing shares of their own stock on the open market. I became fascinated by stock buybacks because they are emblematic of how technical-sounding corporate finance practices actually deepen the racial wealth gap, hurt innovation and productivity, and, often, fly under the radar.  

I have written on policies to reform the practice of stock buybacks; conducted empirical research showing that corporate insiders personally profit off of stock buybacks; demonstrated how stock buybacks negatively affect workers and increase the racial wealth gap; and testified before Congress on the importance of reining in the practice.

• Regulating Stock Buybacks. International Review of Applied Economics. September 26, 2022.

• $1 Trillion Question: New Approaches to Regulating Stock Buybacks

• Congressional Testimony on Stock Buybacks

• Do Corporate Insiders Use Stock Buybacks for Personal Gain?

• Financialization at Work

• Palladino Testimony

The power of large corporations is inextricably linked to financial institutions. Recently I have become very interested in the role that asset managers play and their duties to their underlying economic beneficiaries, who are workers and households. I have written with Rick Alexander about reforming the fiduciary duties of asset managers; and proposed the idea of a public asset manager, inspired by Saule Omarova’s proposal for a National Investment Authority. 

Earlier work, including my dissertation, focused on financial transaction taxes; I continue to be very interested in financial, corporate, and wealth taxation.

• Benefits of Public Asset Manager

• Democratizing Investment

• Responsible Asset Managers

• State Pension Funds and Climate Risk: A Roadmap

Another important area of my work is in the need for corporate guardrails in industrial policymaking.