Meet Ramin Baghai: “The Transition Provided a Natural Opportunity for Reflection” 

Mar. 30, 2026

After his first year as a professor in the Department of Finance at the Stockholm School of Economics, SHoF Researcher Ramin Baghai reflects on his journey into the role. His work spans corporate credit markets, corporate finance, asset management, and the intersection of labor economics and finance. In this interview, he shares highlights, talks about his current projects, and looks ahead to the many opportunities that come with this new chapter.  

Reflecting on your first year as Professor, how would you describe the experience, both personally and professionally? How has the role shaped your work and priorities?

Becoming Professor was an important personal milestone and the culmination of many years of work. That said, the day-to-day substance of my job has not changed much; research and teaching remain at the center of what I do. What the transition did provide was a natural opportunity for reflection. It encouraged me to take stock of my research agenda, think more deliberately about long-term priorities, and be more strategic about where I want my professional life and research focus to go. At the same time, the role naturally comes with a broader set of responsibilities: more involvement in departmental decisions, conference organization, and service to the profession. The main observable change so far may be a greater density of meetings, which seems to be academia’s quiet reward for promotion.

What research projects or questions are you currently most engaged in?

I am revising several papers in advanced stages of the publication process, but I am particularly excited about a set of new projects that started in recent months.

One project examines the interaction between labor markets and firms; my co-authors and I study whether worker financial distress, and debt enforcement through wage garnishment, distorts labor supply in ways that spill over to other workers, firm productivity and value.

Another project focuses on innovation and its broader economic effects; we develop a dollar-value measure of individual patents to quantify the social returns to innovation arising from technological and product-market spillovers. In another new project, my co-authors and I analyze how coordinated group insolvency reforms affect debt pricing, borrowing strategies, and restructuring efficiency.

Recently, I have also developed a growing interest in infrastructure finance. Many countries face large gaps in traditional infrastructure investment, and digital infrastructure and renewable energy have seen rapid innovation in financing structures. This is an area where political, legal, technical, and financial challenges intersect, and one that remains underexplored in the academic literature. It will likely feature more prominently in my future research and teaching.

Looking back on your academic journey, which experiences or decisions do you see as most defining for where you are today?

The time I spent working on my PhD in London and the U.S. was formative. When I started at London Business School, I was still open to a range of career paths inside and outside academia. LBS proved to be a unique environment, intellectually stimulating, internationally oriented, and highly supportive, and it played a key role in my decision to pursue an academic career. I gained lasting friendships, co-authors, and opportunities that continue to shape my work today, alongside the fantastic personal experience of living in London.

I joined the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE) immediately after my PhD, and I found Stockholm to be an exceptional place to live, work, and settle. Through the Swedish House of Finance (SHoF), the SSE has built a unique research environment where academic work, teaching, and engagement with practice reinforce one another. I draw a great deal of inspiration from this setting and feel fortunate to work with truly outstanding colleagues and co-authors. Being part of and contributing to this environment is a genuine privilege.

You will organize the SHoF Annual Conference in 2026. Any highlights you can share already?

I am very much looking forward to organizing the conference together with Bo Becker, Alvin Chen and Per Strömberg. The 2026 edition will focus on private capital markets. Private equity and private credit have become central to corporate financing and the allocation of risk in the financial system. The program will feature panel discussions and new research on topics such as private capital market structure and performance, interactions with public markets, and implications for investment, financial stability, and the energy transition. Our aim is to create a stimulating forum for new research and policy discussion in an area that is growing rapidly in practice and increasingly important for policymakers, firms, and investors alike.