Bruce Petersen

Professor Emeritus
Bert and Jeannette Lynch Distinguished Professor in Economics
PhD, Harvard University
research interests:
  • Financial Economics
  • Applied Microeconomics
    View All People

    contact info:

    mailing address:

    • Department of Economics
    • MSC 1208‐228‐308
    • Washington University in St. Louis
    • One Brookings Drive
    • St. Louis, MO 63130-4899
    image of book cover

    Before coming to Washington University in 1991, Petersen taught at Northwestern University and was a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank in Chicago. His current research considers: i) are financing constraints quantitatively important for R&D and innovation?;  ii) what types of financial development work best for funding R&D around the world?  iii) how do firms buffer R&D when confronted with a financial crisis?

      Selected Publications

      “Law, Stock Markets and Innovation,”  Journal of Finance, 2013  (With J. Brown and G. Martinsson).

      “Do Financing Constraints Matter for R&D?”  European Economic Review, 2012  (With J. Brown and G. Martinsson).

      "Financing Innovation and Growth: Cash Flow, External Equity and the 1990s R&D Boom," Journal of Finance, 2009  (with J. Brown and S. Fazzari).

      "Capital Market Imperfections, High-Tech Investment, and New Equity Financing," The Economic Journal, 2002  (with R. Carpenter).

      "Is the Growth of Small Firms Constrained by Internal Finance?”  Review of Economics and Statistics, 2002  (with R. Carpenter).   

      "Inventory Investment, Internal-Finance Fluctuations, and the Business Cycle," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 1994  (with R. Carpenter and S. Fazzari).  

      "R&D and Internal Finance: A Panel Study of Small Firms in High-Tech Industries,"  Review of Economics and Statistics, 1994  (with C. Himmelberg).

      "Working Capital and Fixed Investment: New Evidence on Financing Constraints," The Rand Journal of Economics, 1993  (with S. Fazzari).  

      "Financing Constraints and Corporate Investment," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 1988  (with S. Fazzari and R.G. Hubbard).

      "Dynamic Limit Pricing and Internal Finance,"  Journal of Economic Theory, 1986  (with K. Judd).