Prof. Alexander F. Wagner

Alexander Wagner is a Professor of Finance at the University of Zurich (UZH). He is chairman of the Executive Education of UZH's Faculty of Business, Economics, and Informatics, and he is Co-Head of the UZH Center for Crisis Competence. He earned his PhD in Political Economy and Government from Harvard University. Prior to that, he completed studies in economics and law in his hometown Linz, Austria. He previously served as an independent counsel for PwC and as the chairman of a proxy advisor.

Professor Wagner studies sustainable finance and corporate finance. Recently, he has focused on how investors perceive biodiversity and nature-related financial risks. Analyzing the corporate biodiversity footprint and nature dependence of a large sample of global companies, he documents that investors have started pricing nature-related risks. His work on mutual funds and sustainable investments indicates that fund managers are mindful of the loss of diversification when investing too heavily in low-carbon assets. His analysis of the COVID-19 crisis suggests that institutional ownership did not work as a stabilizing force but was associated with more substantial stock price declines. Also, he has uncovered that managers tend to be overoptimistic about intangible assets in takeover. Professor Wagner actively participates in SFI Knowledge Exchange activities on corporate governance, sustainable finance, and corporate ethics.

• Financial Markets
  • Information and Market Efficiency
• Portfolio Management and Asset Classes
  • Behavioral Finance and Neurofinance
  • Equities
• Financial Institutions
  • Institutional Investors and Funds
• Corporate Finance and Governance
  • Corporate Governance and Managerial Compensation
  • Mergers and Acquisitions
• Frontier Topics
  • Sustainable Finance