Prior to joining the Olin Business School, Thakor was The Edward J. Frey Professor of Banking and Finance at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, where he also served as chairman of the Finance area. He has served on the faculties of Indiana University, Northwestern University and UCLA. He has worked with many companies, including Whirlpool Corporation, Allision Engine Co., Citigroup, RR Donnelley, Dana Corporation, Anheuser-Busch, Zenith Corporation, Lincoln National Corporation, J.P. Morgan, Landscape Structures, Inc., CIGNA, Borg-Warner Automative, Waxman Industries, Reuters, The Limited, Ryder Integrated Logistics, AT&T, CH2M Hill, Takata Corporation, Tyson Foods, Spartech and Bunge. He also served as an expert witness in many federal cases involving banking litigation.
Anjan Thakor
John E. Simon Professor of Finance
Contact Information
- Phone: 314-935-7197
- Email: thakor@wustl.edu
- Website: Website
Media Contact
In the media
Purpose-Driven Companies Grow 3 Times Faster — So Here’s How to Become One Without Sacrificing Profit.
Purpose-driven businesses have evolved over the last three years, and leaders must define and align strategies to balance both purpose and profit, writes Anjan Thakor.
Creating a Purpose-Driven Organization
Anjan Thakor, the John E. Simon Professor of Finance
Stories
The importance of higher purpose, culture in banking
Anjan Thakor at Olin Business School offers a new tool to help bank executives identify their organization’s culture and purpose, which ultimately drives risk-taking and overall performance.
Thakor receives lifetime achievement award
The Financial Intermediation Research Society has awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award to Anjan Thakor, the John E. Simon Professor of Finance at Olin Business School.
How can businesses benefit from having a higher purpose?
After a friend started a church in Australia, Professor Thakor wondered: what impact can a higher purpose have on your business?
Having a higher purpose promotes happiness, lowers stress, survey finds
Having a personal higher purpose promotes well-being, more happiness and even lower stress from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to findings from a new survey by two Washington University in St. Louis researchers from Olin Business School. Also, employees of organizations with higher-purpose statements are happier and prouder of their organizations than are employees at workplaces without a statement, the results show.
What to read when you’re stuck inside
Looking for some good books to read while social distancing? Washington University alumni and faculty have you covered. Here are some book suggestions for every taste.
New theoretical model links loans to bank’s capital on hand
A Washington University in St. Louis finance and regulations scientist has published a paper with a theoretical model that basically proposes bridging the divide between bankers and politicians to link such capital requirements to something of a political football: credit allocation — a bank’s business of financing loans.
Anniversary of Lehman’s collapse reminds us – booms are often followed by busts
Regulators can only do so much to keep firms from taking excessive risks. What they can do is ensure banks have enough capital to absorb future shocks so that the global financial system isn’t once again brought to the brink of collapse.
Insolvency, not liquidity, is the problem
Reviewing empirical and theoretical papers in the aftermath of the 2007-09 financial crisis, Olin Business School finance expert Anjan Thakor cites a twofold finding from his study. First, U.S. and European banks need to understand that insolvency was the issue that rocked the world, not liquidity; and second, the current standards for bank capital are all wrong and require adjustment.
Report: Robust global financial system necessary for economic growth
Authored by Anjan Thakor, PhD, the John E. Simon Professor of Finance at Olin Business School, “International Financial Markets: A Diverse System is the Key to Commerce” provides a broad overview of the global financial system and how it supports economic growth, facilitates global trade and creates opportunities for companies, entrepreneurs and individuals.
Campus Author: Anjan Thakor, PhD
Many companies struggle with how to use innovation and technology to grow their business. A new book by a Washington University in St. Louis business professor guides senior managers and executives in developing a straightforward and effective growth strategy.
New banking bureaucracy may not help consumers
There’s a better way to help banking customers than the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) that opened for business July 21, says a banking expert at Washington University in St. Louis.
A new tool to design executive compensation packages
A trio of Olin Business School researchers — Radhakrishnan Gopalan, PhD, assistant professor of finance; Todd Milbourn, PhD, the Hubert C. and Dorothy R. Moog Professor of Finance; and Anjan Thakor, PhD, the John E. Simon Professor of Finance — says companies have not previously had the proper tools for determining how to pay executives and have developed a formula that businesses can use to align the duration, or payout, of an executive’s compensation with the strategic needs of the company.
Did infectious leverage cause the financial crisis?
Banks and borrowers went on a leveraged consumption binge that led to the financial crisis in 2008 according to Anjan Thakor. And the entire economy is still feeling the hangover pain from the credit-fueled party that caused bank failures and forced foreclosures across the country. Thakor’s new research examines the cycles of leveraged borrowing by banks and consumers as a possible cause of the crisis. His new theory of ‘infectious leverage’ could help prevent future financial meltdowns.
Knight class: Former Emerson head Knight brings high-profile CEOs to business course
For the second year in a row, the Olin School of Business is offering a course that includes a succession of “celebrity” CEOs as guest speakers. The class, “Creating Exceptional Value: Performance Without Compromise,” is co-taught by Chuck Knight, chairman emeritus of Emerson, and Anjan Thakor, Ph.D., senior associate dean and the John E. Simon Professor of Finance.
Shareholders lose when companies are sued for inflated stock prices
When investors buy stock at inflated prices, they have a right to sue the company for any losses. Unfortunately, securities litigation isn’t paying off for shareholders – even when they win. Instead, large institutional investors and lawyers rake in the money and existing shareholders end up losing out.
Olin School builds global leadership role, hosts Shanghai conference
Anjan Thakor co-founded the Financial Intermediation Research Society to communicate & coordinate further research more efficiently.
All-star CEOs lend their perspectives as they help Knight teach M.B.A. class at Olin School
The guest lecturers include Jack Welch, retired chairman and CEO of General Electric, and August Busch III, chairman of Anheuser-Busch Cos.
When public companies go private
Whether you follow arguments for or against President Bush’s plan for having private accounts in Social Security, there is one benefit to Bush’s plan that is difficult to dispute: private accounts would increase activity in the stock market. The more investors in the market, the stronger the market and — ultimately — the stronger the economy. Currently, however, the market is relatively weak and will probably stay weak considering the rate at which public companies have been delisting from the market in the past five years. A professor at the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis has studied the trend of public companies turning private and finds that one factor that could ebb the exodus is strengthening the market through more investor participation.
Corporate-governance conference brings experts here
Business experts from all over the world are visiting the Olin School of Business at Washington University to participate in a three-day conference on corporate governance
“Key Issues in Corporate Governance,” co-sponsored by the Olin School, the Center for Research in Economics and Strategy (CRES), and the Journal of Financial Intermediation, is being held at the Charles F. Knight Executive Education Center Nov. 11 to 13. The conference features two days of academic presentations and a third day devoted to panel discussions among senior corporate executives, policymakers and academics. Topics include financial markets and corporate governance regulation in the United States and similar issues in the European Union.
Business experts to visit Olin School of Business for conference on corporate governance
Business experts from all over the world will come to the Olin School of Business at Washington University to participate in a three-day conference on corporate governance Nov. 11 to 13.
“Key Issues in Corporate Governance,” co-sponsored by the Olin School, the Center for Research in Economics and Strategy (CRES), and the Journal of Financial Intermediation, will be held at the Charles F. Knight Executive Education Center. The conference will feature two days of academic presentations and a third day devoted to panel discussions among senior corporate executives, policymakers and academics. Topics include financial markets and corporate governance regulation in the United States and similar issues in the European Union.
Books
The Economics of Higher Purpose
Eight Counterintuitive Steps For Creating a Purpose-Driven Organization
Two distinguished scholars offer eight steps to help organizations discover and embrace an authentic higher purpose–something that will dramatically improve every aspect of any enterprise, including the bottom line.