Faculty Profile

Samuli Knüpfer

NFI Professor of Finance - Department of Finance

Biography

Personal homepage

The core of my research investigates topics in household finance. The first theme of my work concerns the role experiences play in explaining financial decisions. The second theme is about investment mistakes, i.e., investor behavior that departs from the normative prescriptions of finance theory. Outside household finance, I am working on understanding the characteristics of corporate decision-makers.

Area of Expertise

Publications

Adams, Renee Birgit; Keloharju, Matti & Knüpfer, Samuli (2018)

Are CEOs born leaders? Lessons from traits of a million individuals

Journal of Financial Economics, 130(2), s. 392- 408. Doi: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2018.07.006

What makes a successful CEO? We combine a near-exhaustive sample of male CEOs from Swedish companies with data on their cognitive and noncognitive ability and height at age 18. CEOs differ from other high-skill professions most in noncognitive ability. The median large-company CEO belongs to the top 5% of the population in the combination of the three traits. The traits have a monotonic and close to linear relation with CEO pay, but their correlations with pay, firm size, and CEO fixed effects in firm policies are relatively low. Traits appear necessary but not sufficient for making it to the top.

Knüpfer, Samuli; Rantapuska, Elias & Matti, Sarvimäki (2017)

Formative Experiences and Portfolio Choice: Evidence from the Finnish Great Depression

Journal of Finance, 72(1), s. 133- 166. Doi: 10.1111/jofi.12469

Grinblatt, Mark; Ikäheimo, Seppo, Keloharju, Matti & Knüpfer, Samuli (2015)

IQ and mutual fund choice

Management science, 62(4), s. 924- 944. Doi: 10.1287/mnsc.2015.2166

Kaustia, Markku; Knüpfer, Samuli & Torstila, Samuli (2015)

Stock ownership and political behavior: Evidence from demutualizations

Management science, 62(4), s. 945- 963. Doi: 10.1287/mnsc.2014.2135

Academic Degrees
Year Academic Department Degree
2007 Helsinki School of Economics Ph.D Dr. Scient.
2002 Helsinki School of Economics Master Cand. Oecon
Work Experience
Year Employer Job Title
2015 - Present BI Norwegian Business School Professor
2008 - 2015 London Business School Assistant Professor