Amit Kumar

Assistant Professor of Finance
Singapore Management University

Amit Kumar | Assistant Professor of Finance at SMU
CV     SSRN

About Me

I am an Assistant Professor of Finance at Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University. I completed my Ph.D. in Finance from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) Business School. I am reachable at amitkumar@smu.edu.sg . The link to my webpage at university’s website is here:Link .

Publications

Do Women Receive Worse Financial Advice? [Joint with Utpal Bhattacharya, Sujata Visaria, and Jing Zhao]

Forthcoming, Journal of Finance

Abstract
We arranged for trained undercover men and women to pose as potential clients and visit all 65 local financial advisory firms in Hong Kong. At financial planning firms, but not at securities firms, women were more likely than men to receive advice to buy only individual or only local securities. Women clients who signaled that they were highly confident, highly risk tolerant or had a domestic outlook, were especially likely to receive this suboptimal advice. Our theoretical model explains these patterns as the result of statistical discrimination interacting with advisors’ incentives. Taste-based discrimination is unlikely to explain the results.
Coverage: Bloomberg.

Working Papers

Know Thyself: Access to Own Credit Report and The Retail Mortgage Market

Abstract
Borrowers may misestimate their probability of mortgage approval in the absence of precise signals of creditworthiness. Credit reports, which contain such signals, became easily accessible for all U.S. consumers since 2005, while it was already the case in seven states. A difference-in-differences strategy exploiting this change shows that pool quality of mortgage applicants improved as a result—approvals increased, whereas subsequent delinquencies decreased. These findings are consistent with a mechanism where under-estimators enter the applicant pool and over-estimators drop out, because easier access to credit reports reduces misestimation of one’s own probability of mortgage approval. Additional findings rule out supply-driven explanations.
Selected Conference Presentations: The Ohio State University 2022 Annual PhD Conference on Real Estate and Housing, University of Texas Austin Ph.D. Student Symposium 2020, AFA Ph.D. Poster Session 2021, ABFER 2021, AREUEA National Conference 2021, FMA Annual Meeting 2021 and Doctoral Consortium 2020, AFBC 2020, MFA 2022.

Coverage: The World Bank’s All About Finance Blog.

Doctoral Grant: Midwest Finance Association 2022.

Best Ph.D. Paper Awards: 15th Conference on Asia-Pacific Financial Markets. 11th Financial Markets and Corporate Governance Conference.

Municipal and Economic Consequences of PFAS Contamination Discovery [Joint with Daisy Huang]

Abstract
We show that discovery of contamination by pollutants that are unmonitored and unregulated adversely affects local municipal finances and economic conditions. We causally document a 9-basis-points increase in primary market yields of municipal bonds from the counties where per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination was discovered for the first time, vis-à-vis the bonds from bordering, uncontaminated, same-state counties. The yields increased more for riskier bonds. We link the increased yields to a reduction in allocation by mutual funds and banks in the municipal bonds from the affected counties. These counties subsequently experienced heightened out-migration and depressed public expenditure and employment.
Conference Presentations: AFA 2025*, North American Meeting of Urban Economics Association 2023, Australasian Finance & Banking Conference 2023, SMU Summer Finance Research Camp 2023.
* scheduled

Research Grant

  • 2022: Ministry Of Education (MOE) Academic Research Fund (AcRF) Tier 1
  • 2023: Ministry Of Education (MOE) Academic Research Fund (AcRF) Tier 1

Academic Awards and Fellowships

  • Junior Scholars Program, AREUEA 2021.
  • Doctoral Travel Grant, AFA 2020.
  • Hong Kong Ph.D. fellowship scheme, Research Grant Council 2017–2020.
  • Gold Medal for Best All-Round Performance, Indian Institute of Management Tiruchirappalli 2015.

Amit Kumar
Room 4069. Lee Kong Chian School of Business
Singapore Management University. 50 Stamford Rd, Singapore 178899
Email: amitkumar@smu.edu.sg

Amit Kumar, Assistant Professor of Finance, SMU