# Thomas Lambert > Rotterdam School of Management ## Posts - [Governance in a Polarized World](http://thomaslambert.org/governance-in-a-polarized-world/): On October 24, 2025, the 5th edition of the Stigler Center–CEPR Conference on the Political Economy of Finance was hosted at Imperial College London. The theme, “Governance in a Polarized World,” brought together researchers exploring how polarization forces changes to private and public governance, in turn reshaping firms, markets, and institutions. Across four sessions, the […] - [Concentration in the French Crowdfunding Market](http://thomaslambert.org/concentration-in-the-french-crowdfunding-market/): In early December 2024, the crowdfunding platform Ulule announced the acquisition of its competitor, KissKissBankBank (KKBB). This merger between the two most prominent players in the market marks a significant turning point in the French crowdfunding industry, which has been experiencing continuous growth for about a decade. Together, these platforms bring together an impressive community […] - [Is Crowdfunding Still on the Rise?](http://thomaslambert.org/is-crowdfunding-still-on-the-rise/): Crowdfunding is the process of raising capital online from a large audience. It began developing in the mid-2000s with the launch of peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms like Zopa in the UK and Prosper in the US. Reward-based crowdfunding quickly followed, especially gaining traction in the arts and creative industries through platforms like Kickstarter and Ulule. […] - [The US Presidential Election and the Stock Market](http://thomaslambert.org/the-us-presidential-election-and-the-stock-market/): The outcome of the US presidential election is still highly uncertain, and with it the future direction of the country’s economic policy. In this blogpost, I explore why stock markets may react strongly to the election that’s still too close to call (at least at the time of writing). I draw insights from the surprise result in […] - [Decentralizing Bank Supervision](http://thomaslambert.org/decentralizing-supervision-new-perspectives-from-the-china-banking-regulatory-commissions-2015-reform/): The supervisory architecture of the financial system determines how oversight responsibilities and powers are distributed among policy institutions. In Europe, the global financial crisis (GFC) sparked an intense debate over the optimal supervisory architecture, focused on restoring trust in the banking sector and enhancing the resilience of the financial system. In 2014, the European Single […] - [Democratizing Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Kickstarter](http://thomaslambert.org/democratizing-entrepreneurship-evidence-from-kickstarter/): By opening a new market for raising outside funds for individuals and businesses, crowdfunding has the potential to boost entrepreneurship and contribute to growth. Policy support for crowdfunding in various jurisdictions is based on this assumption. The vital role of small businesses and high-growth entrepreneurs in growing the economy is what is usually put forth […] - [Politics, Corporations, and the Common Good](http://thomaslambert.org/politics-corporations-and-the-common-good/): On October 20, 2023, the third edition of our CEPR Conference Series on the Political Economy of Finance took place in the beautiful Wereldmuseum in Rotterdam. This edition gathered a great lineup of scholars to discuss frontier research on the interactions between firms’ political power, their stakeholders and society at large. One of the highlights […] - [Governor Appointments and Central Bank Independence](http://thomaslambert.org/governor-appointments-and-central-bank-independence/): Since the late 1980s, many countries have reformed the legal frameworks governing central banks to protect these institutions from undue political influence and safeguard price (and financial) stability (Grilli et al. 1991, Cukierman et al. 1992, Romelli 2022). However, legal or de jure independence does not necessarily translate into actual or de facto independence. Laws […] - [Democracy as a Fundamental Determinant of Cross-Border Merger Activity](http://thomaslambert.org/democracy-as-a-fundamental-determinant-of-cross-border-merger-activity/): Does democracy shape international merger activity? If so, how? The short answer is yes because democratic institutions are conducive to higher-quality corporate governance. In a new paper, we examine 104,425 cross-border transactions in 58 countries from the mid-1980s and find that merger flows involve acquirers from more democratic countries than their targets. This result is […] - [Politics and the Finance-Growth Nexus](http://thomaslambert.org/politics-and-the-finance-growth-nexus/): 2022 started pretty well with the acceptance (on January 2!) of my paper “Banks, Political Capital, and Growth” at the Review of Corporate Finance Studies. In this post, I’d like to discuss its content and also share my gratitude for having two great co-authors, Wolf Wagner and Eden Zhang. We study the consequences of banks’ […] - [Corporate Finance Day in Rotterdam](http://thomaslambert.org/corporate-finance-day-in-rotterdam/): On October 1st, the Rotterdam School of Management hosted the 18th edition of the Corporate Finance Day. I greatly enjoyed organizing this conference with my colleagues, Daniel Metzger and Peter Roosenboom, and even more so listening to the presentations of the many excellent papers on the program (available here). There were 26 paper presentations and […] - [Political Economy in Finance](http://thomaslambert.org/political-economy-in-finance/): This post reports on recent work presented at the first edition of the CEPR Conference Series on the Political Economy of Finance, which focused on the politics of regulation and central banking. The conference, held on February 12, 2021 and co-sponsored by three Dutch universities (Erasmus University Rotterdam, Tilburg University, University of Amsterdam), kickstarted the […] - [Towards Native Digital Securities](http://thomaslambert.org/towards_native_digital_securities/): Blockchain-based securities: New results, new perspective Security token offerings (STOs) are not initial coin offerings (ICOs) or a subset thereof. In our recent paper, “Security Token Offerings,”  we show that making this distinction has important implications for the study of entrepreneurial finance where startup financing and development are the outcomes under study. Tokens – either […] - [The Nascent Market of Security Token Offerings](http://thomaslambert.org/the-nascent-primary-market-of-security-token-offerings/): The years 2017 and 2018 saw an influx of ventures raising substantial amounts of money through initial coin offerings (ICOs). The Ethereum blockchain greatly facilitated the spectacular surge of ICOs, even though utility tokens and cryptocurrencies are not primarily meant for raising external capital for start-up firms. Now that the ICO market bubble ebbed away […] - [How Banks Affect Investment and Growth: New Evidence](http://thomaslambert.org/how-banks-affect-investment-and-growth-new-evidence/): Banks fulfil several key functions in the economy. They improve the allocation of scarce capital by extending credit to where it is most productive, as well as allowing households to plan their consumption over time through saving and borrowing (Allen and Gale 2000). Banks also provide liquidity to the economy by funding illiquid assets with […] - [Crowdfunding: Funding Dynamics and Platform Growth](http://thomaslambert.org/crowdfunding-funding-dynamics-and-platform-growth/): In a recent study (available here), we examine the microeconomic underpinnings of the performance and growth of crowdfunding platforms. Our empirical exercises are conducted on Ulule and KissKissBankBank, two platforms largely dominating the French reward-based crowdfunding market. We study about 2 million contributions made by backers on these reward-based crowdfunding platforms. Why does reward-based crowdfunding […] - [Network Effects in Crowdfunding](http://thomaslambert.org/network-effects-in-crowdfunding/): The advances in FinTech are concomitant with the development of digital platforms, such as Ethereum, LendingClub, or PayPal. The decisions that users make on such platforms are highly interdependent, insofar as these decisions jointly condition the value that users will obtain from interacting on the platform. Hence, users of FinTech platforms care about participation and […] - [Voting Rights and Financial Systems: Evidence from Two Centuries of Suffrage Reforms](http://thomaslambert.org/voting-rights-and-financial-systems-evidence-from-two-centuries-of-suffrage-reforms/): Extending voting rights to broader segments of the population considerably affects the way countries finance their economies. This is the key finding of our new research recently published in the Economic Journal, available here. Financial systems fulfil a number of key functions in the economy, thereby contributing to its growth. By transferring funds from savers/investors […] - [Lobbying on Regulatory Enforcement Actions](http://thomaslambert.org/lobbying-on-regulatory-enforcement-actions/): A major task of financial economics and political science is to explain the raison d’être, but also the consequences, of the influence of the banking industry on the government. When the banking system fails to deliver outcomes serving the public interest, it is necessary to use regulatory actions to correct these failures. Regulatory agencies, however, […] - [Lobbying and the Efficiency of Bank Sales](http://thomaslambert.org/lobbying-and-the-efficiency-of-bank-sales/): Bank lobbying can distort regulatory decisions by introducing private incentives into the decision-making process. Regulators are criticised for serving both their own interests, and those of the banks they regulate, at the expense of the general public (McCarty et al. 2013, Admati and Hellwig 2014). This rent-seeking may make the resolution of bank failures less […] - [Lobbying on the Sale of Failed Banks](http://thomaslambert.org/lobbying-on-the-sale-of-failed-banks/): The aftermath of the financial crisis revealed failures and gaps in regulatory actions. In particular, regulators have been criticized for serving special interests—not only of the banks they regulate but also their own—rather than the interests of the general public. The resolution of failed banks in the United States is an important case in point. […] - [The Study of Political Institutions at the Centre of Financial Economics](http://thomaslambert.org/the-study-of-political-institutions-at-the-centre-of-financial-economics/): In a recent survey of the literature on the political economy of finance (available here), we argue that understanding the evolution and functioning of financial systems cannot be fully appreciated without accounting for the critical role played by political institutions. Institutions influence economic outcomes because they shape incentives in society and persist over time. The […] ## Pages - [Research](http://thomaslambert.org/research/): Research Research Fields Banking, Corporate Finance, Entrepreneurship, Political Economy - [Cookie Policy](http://thomaslambert.org/cookie-policy/): About this cookie policy This Cookie Policy explains what cookies are and how we use them, the types of cookies we use i.e, the information we collect using cookies and how that information is used, and how to control the cookie preferences. For further information on how we use, store, and keep your personal data […] - [Privacy Policy](http://thomaslambert.org/privacy-policy/): Who we are Suggested text: Our website address is: https://thomaslambert.org. Comments Suggested text: When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a […] - [Blog](http://thomaslambert.org/blog/) - [Teaching](http://thomaslambert.org/teaching/): Teaching - [Home](http://thomaslambert.org/): Thomas Lambert Associate Professor of Finance Academic Director MSc in Finance and Investments Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Biography Thomas Lambert is Associate Professor of Finance and Academic Director of the MSc in Finance and Investments at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. His research interests are in Finance, Innovation, and Political Economy. His work […] ## Optional - [Agent (MCP protocol)](websites-agents.hostinger.com/thomaslambert.org/mcp) [comment]: # (Generated by Hostinger Tools Plugin)