Research
Josh White’s research examines how information asymmetries and divergent incentives between managers and capital market participants influence corporate actions and value. His work spans finance, law, and accounting, and is shaped by his experience at the SEC and PCAOB.
Peer-Reviewed Publications · Law Review Publications · Working Papers · Blog Posts · Panels & Symposia
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Auditor independence and human capital: Complements, not substitutes
Discussing Pandey et al. (JAE 2026), I consider how the labor-market effects of SOX independence provisions inform the challenge of protecting auditor objectivity while preserving the expertise needed for audit quality.
Preprint (SSRN) → | Journal → | JAE Conference Presentation → | Discussion Slides (PPTX) →
The effect of celebrity endorsements on crypto
Celebrity endorsements in crypto primarily amplify attention and capital formation rather than convey information about quality, with endorsed crypto raising more capital despite weaker subsequent outcomes and more fraud.
Preprint (SSRN) → | Journal → | Appendix → | Media Coverage →
Proxy advisory firms and corporate shareholder engagement
ISS scrutiny following weak Say-On-Pay support prompts firms to increase shareholder engagement, particularly where governance concerns are greater, with effects that persist over time.
Preprint (SSRN) → | Journal (Open Access) → | Appendix → | Blog →
The saliency of the CEO pay ratio
The SEC’s CEO pay ratio disclosure can worsen employee perceptions and productivity even when it provides little new information, highlighting the unintended effects of simple, salient disclosure mandates.
Preprint (SSRN) → | Journal → | Appendix → | Blog → | Data →
Reproducibility in Management Science
This study evaluates the reproducibility of nearly 500 articles in Management Science before and after the 2019 Data and Code Disclosure policy.
Deregulating innovation capital: The effects of the JOBS Act on biotech startups
This paper studies the JOBS Act as a natural experiment in easing public market regulations to promote innovation capital.
Preprint (SSRN) → | Journal → | Appendix → | Blog → | Data →
Labor mobility and antitakeover provisions
This paper challenges the view that antitakeover provisions necessarily reflect weak governance or managerial entrenchment.
Ongoing SEC disclosures by foreign firms
We study ongoing disclosure by U.S.-listed foreign private issuers (FPIs) under the SEC’s policy of deferring to home-country reporting requirements.
Paper (PDF) → | Journal → | Appendix 1 → | Appendix 2 → | Blog →
Qualified residential mortgages and default risk
The Dodd-Frank Act requires regulators to define a Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM) considering factors that result in lower default levels.
The effect of institutional ownership on firm transparency and information production
This study explores the causal effects of institutional ownership on firms’ information and trading environments using a shock to ownership by quasi-indexers.
Differences in the information environment prior to seasoned equity offerings under relaxed disclosure regulation
This paper studies the SEC’s 2005 Securities Offering Reform as a natural experiment in deregulating disclosure during equity capital formation.
Appointments of academic directors
The study examines the appointment of academics, such as professors and deans, to corporate boards of directors and finds that they are typically selected by small- and mid-cap firms expanding their boards.
Law Review Publications
Quantified cost-benefit analysis at the SEC
The SEC has faced criticism for its economic analyses in rulemaking, with Schwartz and Nelson (2016) arguing that the SEC’s cost estimate for the Conflict Minerals Rule was poorly constructed and inaccurate.
The evolving role of economic analysis in SEC rulemaking
Following judicial setbacks in the early 2010s, the SEC significantly increased resources allocated to its Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (DERA).
Working Papers
Human capital disclosure and workforce turnover
In this paper, we examine whether firms’ human capital disclosures reflect underlying workforce dynamics.
Market-based incentives for audit quality
We analyze how equity markets react to the public release of U.S. audit-firm inspection reports.
The landscape of auditing in U.S. capital markets
We document trends in the landscape of public-company auditing over 2003 to 2023, focusing on the distribution of audits across auditor size groups, auditor switching patterns, and audit firm entry and exit.
Holding the Bag: Depositor Reactions to a Crypto ‘Bank’ Collapse
We study depositor behavior during the collapse of Celsius, a crypto platform that functioned as a de facto shadow bank without deposit insurance or routine supervisory disclosure.
Pay versus performance and investor voting decisions
We study investor voting responses to the SEC’s Pay Versus Performance disclosure rule.
The role of the media in speculative markets: Evidence from non-fungible tokens (NFTs)
NFT news increases trading activity while reducing returns and volatility, consistent with an informational rather than hype-driven role.
Local policy uncertainty and firm disclosure
Managers adjust voluntary disclosure in response to local policy uncertainty created by gubernatorial elections, providing more frequent and informative disclosures without reducing real activities.
Is the bottom line the top priority? A choice model of revenue and earnings guidance
Managers have been providing 30% more revenue than earnings forecasts, leading to a joint exploration of the decision to provide or forego revenue and/or earnings guidance.
Invited Blog Posts
- “Pay versus performance and investor voting decisions”, with Aiyesha Dey, Berk Sensoy, and Austin Starkweather, — Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, December 26, 2024
- “Human capital disclosure”, with Peter Haslag and Berk Sensoy, — Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, January 19, 2022
- “Corporate liquidity provision and share repurchase programs”, with Craig Lewis, — Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, October 8, 2021
- “Proxy advisory firms and corporate shareholder engagement”, with Aiyesha Dey and Austin Starkweather, — Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, July 8, 2021
- “Deregulating innovation capital: The effects of the JOBS Act on biotech startups”, with Craig Lewis, — Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog, September 17, 2020
- “Spinning the CEO pay ratio disclosure”, with Audra Boone and Austin Starkweather, — Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog, November 25, 2019
- “Trade secrets protection and antitakeover provisions”, with Aiyesha Dey, — Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, June 27, 2018
- “Political uncertainty and firm disclosure”, with Audra Boone and Abby Kim, — Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, September 1, 2017
- “Quantified cost-benefit analysis at the SEC”, — Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog, September 13, 2016
- “SEC disclosures by foreign firms”, with Audra Boone and Kathryn Schumann, — Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, November 10, 2015
- “The evolving role of economic analysis in SEC rulemaking”, — Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog, September 23, 2015
Roundtables, Panels & Legal Symposia
- Panelist, “AI, Agentic Companies, Future of Corporate Governance,” John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance, University of Delaware, October 2026
- Panelist, “Emerging Issues in Financial Reporting,” Accounting Horizons Conference on Bridging Accounting Research and Practice, George Mason University, May 2026
- Moderator and Organizer, “Presentation to the Board: Internal Controls over Financial Reporting (ICFR),” PCAOB Investor Advisory Group, September 2025
- Invited Participant, “Roundtable on Reshaping Financial Institutions: Economic Implications of Blockchain and Decentralization,” Wharton Initiative on Financial Policy and Regulation (WIFPR), May 2025
- Moderator and Organizer, “Fireside Chat with SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce,” Crypto and Blockchain Economic Forum (CBER), November 2024
- Moderator and Organizer, “Impact of the 2024 Proxy Season on Off-Season Engagement,” Public Company Shareholder Engagement Summit, Nashville, TN, September 2024
- Moderator and Organizer, “AI and the Future of Finance,” Hans Stoll Financial Markets Research Center Conference, Nashville, TN, April 2024
- Moderator and Organizer, “Digital Assets and the Law,” Crypto and Blockchain Economic Forum (CBER), March 2024
- Panelist, “De-Fi and Ce-Fi Regulatory Climate,” Financial Management Association, Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, October 2023
- Moderator and Organizer, “Regulating Digital Assets,” Crypto and Blockchain Economic Forum (CBER), Virtual Symposium, March 2023
- Discussant, “Emerging Corporate Law Issues,” 22nd Annual Law & Business Conference, Vanderbilt Law School, Virtual Event, September 2020
- Panelist, “How Policy-Makers Use Academic Research—Disclosure and Governance,” Financial Market Policy Development & Research PhD Student Symposium, University of Texas-Austin, Virtual Event, August 2020
- Discussant, “The Future of Corporate Governance: Tenure Voting,” 21st Annual Law & Business Conference, Vanderbilt Law School, Nashville, TN, May 2019
- Discussant, “Roundtable on Transformational Financial Reform,” Vanderbilt University Law School, Nashville, TN, June 2018
- Presenter, “SEC 2017 Thomas A. Biolsi International Institute for Compliance and Examination,” U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Washington, DC, July 2017
- Presenter, “NASAA Capital Formation Roundtable,” North American Securities Administrators Association, Washington, DC, March 2017
- Presenter, “Outcomes of Investing in OTC Stock,” Microcap Fraud Task Force Bootcamp, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, New York Regional Office, June 2016
- Plenary Panelist, “The Extraterritorial Application of Federal Financial Markets Regulations,” National Business Law Scholars Conference, Seton Hall School of Law, June 2015
- Plenary Panelist, “Financial Regulation: Reflections and Projections,” Georgia Law Review Symposium, University of Georgia School of Law, March 2015
- Presenter, “Trends in Capital Markets: Going Public, Staying Private, & Everything In-between,” U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, Washington, DC, April 2013
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