Benjamin E. Hermalin
Thomas & Alison Schneider Distinguished Professor in Finance | Vice Provost for the Faculty | Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA, UNITED STATES
Areas of Expertise (5)
Contract Theory
Economics of Leadership and Organization
Executive Compensation
Corporate Governance
Competitive Strategy and Industrial Organization
About
Benjamin E. Hermalin holds professorships both in the Economics Department and at Berkeley Haas. In the latter, he is the Thomas & Alison Schneider Distinguished Professor of Finance. He received his PhD from MIT in 1988, the same year he joined UC Berkeley as an assistant professor in the Department of Economics and the School of Business. He became a full professor in 1998. From 1999-2006 he was the Willis H. Booth Chair in Banking & Finance. He received the Schwabacher Award for outstanding teaching and research in 1993 and the Earl F. Cheit Outstanding Teaching Award in 1991. From 1999 to 2002, he served as the Berkeley Haas Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Chair of the Faculty. He was the Interim Dean of Berkeley Haas for most of 2002. He served as the Economics Department Chair from 2005 until 2008. He served from 2009 until 2012 (chair, 2011-12) on the campus's Budget Committee, which reviews all academic personnel matters on the campus, including appointments, tenure, and promotions. He is a former co-editor of the RAND Journal of Economics. In 2014-15, he was the Vice Chair of the Academic Senate and served as Chair from fall 2015 until spring 2016. He is currently the Vice Provost for the Faculty. His areas of research include corporate governance, the study of organizations—especially leadership, industrial organization, and law and economics.
Education (2)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology: PhD, Economics
Princeton University: AB, Summa Cum Laude
Links (3)
Honors & Awards (6)
2014 – 2015 Distinguished Service Award from the Division of Social Sciences
2016
NSF Grants
1991 – 1993 & 1997 – 2000
Schwabacher Award
1993
Earl F. Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching
1991
NSF Graduate Fellowship
1984 – 1987
Phi Beta Kappa
1984
Positions Held (1)
At Haas since 1988
2016 – present, Vice Provost of Faculty, UC Berkeley 2006 – present, Thomas & Alison Schneider Distinguished Professorship in Finance 1998 – present, Professor, Haas School of Business 1998 – present, Professor, Department of Economics, UC Berkeley 2015 – 2016, Chair of the Academic Senate, UC Berkeley 2011 – 2012, Chair of the Budget Committee, UC Berkeley 2010 – 2015, Co-Editor, RAND Journal of Economics 2005 – 2008, Chair, Department of Economics, UC Berkeley 2002, Interim Dean, Haas School of Business 1999 – 2006, Willis H. Booth Professor of Banking and Finance 1999 – 2002, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Haas School of Business 1998 – 1999, Professor of Economics, Johnson Graduate School of Management 1996 – 1998, Harold Furst Associate Professor of Management Philosophy & Values, Haas School of Business 1994 – 1996, Associate Professor, Haas School of Business 1988 – 1994, Assistant Professor, Haas School of Business
Media Appearances (5)
Ben Hermalin is UC Berkeley’s new executive vice chancellor and provost
UC Berkeley News online
2022-01-11
Benjamin Hermalin, the Thomas & Alison Schneider Distinguished Professor in Finance at Haas has been named UC Berkeley executive vice chancellor and provost. Hermalin will be the school's chief operating officer, as well as its chief academic officer — someone, he explained, who “tries to set a vision for all things academic, to manage all things academic, to maintain the great academic prestige of the university and to advance that excellence.”
Are We Too Captivated by Charisma in Hiring?
Chronicle Vitae online
2019-07-24
Research by Prof. Benjamin Hermalin, Thomas & Alison Schneider Distinguished Professor in Finance and Vice Provost for the Faculty, found that charismatic leaders are often tempted to substitute charm for action and to hide bad news.
Disney Faces Daunting Questions in Wake of John Lasseter, Harvey Weinstein Scandals
Variety online
2017-11-28
“If this were one of those open secrets, as was alleged with Weinstein, they’re really much more culpable,” said Benjamin Hermalin, a UC Berkeley professor and expert on corporate governance.
Oracle, Cisco break ranks, support repeal of net neutrality rules
San Francisco Chronicle online
2017-05-09
Most companies in Silicon Valley can be considered content companies, noted Benjamin Hermalin, an economics professor at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, as they stream videos or deliver apps.
The FCC should preserve net neutrality
The HIll online
2017-05-05
Who do you think should decide what content you can most readily access, you or your Internet service provider (ISP)? Although we suspect most Americans would like to decide for themselves, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has concluded that your ISP—that is, AT&T, Comcast, or one of a few other large corporations—should decide for you. For that is, in effect, what he proposed last week in scrapping net neutrality regulations.
Selected Papers & Publications (10)
Biased Monitors: Corporate Governance when Managerial Ability is Misassessed
Journal of The Japanese and International Economies
Benjamin E. Hermalin
2018
Platform-Intermediated Trade with Uncertain Quality
Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economic
Benjamin E. Hermalin
2016
Why Whine about Wining and Dining?
Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization
Benjamin E. Hermalin
2016
The Strategic Use of Download Limits by a Monopoly Platform
RAND Journal of Economics
Nicholas Economides and Benjamin E. Hermalin
2015
When Less is More: The Benefits of Limits on Executive Pay
The Review of Financial Studies
Peter Cebon and Benjamin E. Hermalin
2014
Information Disclosure and Corporate Governance
The Journal of Finance
Benjamin E. Hermalin Michael S. Weisbach
2012
The Economics of Network Neutrality
RAND Journal of Economics
Nicholas Economides and Benjamin E. Hermalin
2012
Endogenously Chosen Boards of Directors and Their Monitoring of the CEO,
The American Economic Review
Benjamin E. Hermalin and Michael S. Weisbach
1998
Toward an Economic Theory of Leadership: Leading by Example
American Economic Review
Benjamin E. Hermalin
1998
Moral Hazard and Verifiability: The Effects of Renegotiation in Agency
Econometrica
Benjamin E. Hermalin and Michael Katz.
1991
Social