![NHH Professor Karin S. Thorburn at the Department of Finance is ranked as the sixth-best bankruptcy expert in the world, titled a "Highly Ranked Scholar" by ScholarGPS. Photo: Sigrid Folkestad](/globalassets/nhh-bulletin/2024/karin-s-thorburn_s-folkestad_topp.jpg?factor=2&quality=90)
Karin Thorburn ranked sixth in the world
NHH Professor Karin S. Thorburn has been ranked sixth in the world among researchers with expertise in bankruptcy. `I was an early mover in investigating what happens to companies that are sold during bankruptcy´.
![Finance Professor Karin S. Thorburn.](/globalassets/nhh-bulletin/2024/thorburn_liste.jpg?width=430&factor=2&quality=90)
Last week, Karin S. Thorburn at the Department of Finance was ranked as one of the world’s top bankruptcy experts.
Top 0.5 Percent
ScholarGPS ranked the finance researcher as a “Highly Ranked Scholar.” According to the relatively new but well-respected online platform, she is – in competition with all researchers in the field – the sixth-best researcher in the world.
The justification reads:
The significance of your research and the remarkable quality of your scholarly contributions have placed you among the top 0.5% of all researchers globally.
`It was very exciting to receive such news. I know that I have long been a leading researcher in bankruptcy within finance and economics, but this ranking encompasses all disciplines, where several of those ranked ahead of me are in other and significantly larger fields, such as law and strategic management´.
Papers: Karin S. Thorburn
- The Changing Face of Chapter 11 Bankruptcy: Insights from Recent Trends and Research (2023: Annual Review of Financial Economics)
- How Costly Is Corporate Bankruptcy for the CEO? (2016: Journal of Financial Economics)
- Creditor financing and overbidding in bankruptcy auctions: Theory and tests (2009: Journal of Corporate Finance)
- Automatic bankruptcy auctions and fire-sales (2008: Journal of Financial Economics)
- Control benefits and CEO discipline in automatic bankruptcy auctions (2003: Journal of Financial Economics)
- Bankruptcy Auctions: Costs, Debt Recovery, and Firm Survival (2000: Journal of Financial Economics)
Empirically Investigated
To be recognized as a highly ranked scholar, publications must be of an exceptionally high standard over many years, and they must have a significant impact on the field.
In Thorburn’s case, she was awarded Top Scholar status based on her publications throughout her career.
The Vice Rector for Research, Professor Malin Arve, is very pleased with the top ranking and the visibility it brings to both the finance researcher and the research community at NHH:
`It is important that our researchers succeed in the international competition and are recognized for their contributions. I hope this motivates others to deliver, or continue to deliver, top-tier research,´says Arve.
Thorburn is Research Chair and Professor of Finance at NHH and Adjunct Full Professor of Finance at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Before joining NHH in 2009, she was a researcher at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.
international interest
`You have published numerous papers in top journals. What is the strength of your bankruptcy research, and why has it attracted attention? ´
`I was an early mover in empirically investigating what happens to companies that are sold during bankruptcy. There has been significant international interest in how well different types of bankruptcy systems handle the challenge of sorting out the companies that should be liquidated from those that are viable and should continue operating. And it has turned out that when the market determines this through a sale, the outcome is often very successful. ´
Thorburn has also published several papers that examine what happens to top executives during bankruptcy, which have implications for how we can expect management to behave as the company approaches bankruptcy.
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Eckbo ranked in corporate finance
ScholarGPS ranks researchers and institutions across 14 different disciplines, split into nearly 200 subfields. The rankings are based on publications and citations.
Professor II at the Department of Finance and Tuck Centennial Professor of Finance B. Espen Eckbo has also been ranked as a top researcher. He is ranked 13th within the broader field of corporate finance.