Nicholas A. Zarra

PhD in Finance

New York University

Curriculum Vitae

About

Welcome to my webpage! I am a PhD Student in Finance at the New York University's Stern School of Business. My main research interests are in asset pricing, financial intermediation, and macro-finance. I have secondary interests in public finance.

Update: I am on the 2024-2025 academic job market! Feel free to reach me via email at nzarra at nyu dot stern dot edu or nicholas dot zarra at gmail dot com.

Job Market Paper

Do Broker Health Shocks Affect Stock Prices

with Daniel. J. Barth
Broker-dealer health influences prime brokerage credit supply, which hedge funds usually diversify—except in widespread distress, leading to equity price impacts.

Publications

Partisanship and Fiscal Policy in Economic Unions: Evidence from US States

with Jerry Carlino, Thorsten Drautzburg, and Robert Inman
American Economic Review, March 2023
The rise of partisan politics in the US diminishes the efficacy of U.S. federal fiscal policy.

Work in Progress

Private Liquidity Backstops: Bank Credit Lines and Loan Mutual Funds

with Andreas Schrimpf, Karamfil Todorov, and Teng Wang
Contrary to conventional wisdom, mutual funds with high liquidity risk use credit lines as a signaling tool to prevent runs, not to manage outflows.

Intermediary Risk and Hedge Fund Crowding: A Narrative Approach

Intermediary risk factors tied to broker-dealer leverage track closely with hedge fund financial health and returns on long-minus-short hedge fund equity portfolios, even during narrative events unrelated to broker-dealers.

The Disappearance of Radical Innovation: Evidence from Venture-Funded Start-Ups

with German Gutierrez and Xuan Xie
Relaxed merger policies have shifted venture-backed capital to start-ups producing incremental rather than radical innovation.

Non-Peer Reviewed Publications

Hedge fund exposure to the carry trade

with Frank Packer, Andreas Schrimpf, and Vladyslav Sushko
BIS Quarterly Review, September 2024
Multi-strategy hedge funds increased carry-trade exposure before August 5th, likely driving market-wide sell-offs during the unwinding event.

Teaching Experience

Lecturer in Corporate Finance--2021

I lectured a 32 person elective course at Stern, receiving perfect teaching reviews (5.0/5.0) and a commendation letter from the school