Jonathan R. Macey

Jonathan R. Macey is the Sam Harris Professor of Corporate Law, Corporate Finance, and Securities Law at Yale Law School and a Research Member of the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI). His research spans corporate law, securities regulation, banking law, and the law-and-economics of financial institutions, with more than 150 scholarly papers and multiple books to his credit.

Education & Affiliations

• Yale Law School – Sam Harris Professor (endowed chair)
• European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) – Research Member
• Regular visiting or adjunct affiliations with Columbia, NYU, Cornell, Chicago, and other leading institutions (evidenced by co-authorship networks)

Research Interests

Macey investigates the intersection of law, finance, and governance. Central themes include:

• Corporate governance mechanisms – board structure, fiduciary duties, shareholder rights, and the role of controlling shareholders.
• Securities regulation and market structure – disclosure regimes, insider trading, market manipulation, and the impact of technological change on trading venues.
• Banking and systemic risk – governance of banks and bank holding companies, money-market mutual funds, resolution regimes, and the regulation of systemically important financial institutions.
• Law-and-economics methodology – applying economic analysis to assess legal rules, with particular attention to regulatory efficiency and distributive consequences.

Publication Trends

Between 2019 and 2025 Macey has published at an accelerating pace on post-crisis financial regulation, ESG investing, digital-asset markets, and Delaware corporate law. His recent work critiques the shareholder-primacy narrative, explores extended liability regimes for mega-banks, and interrogates the legal foundations of retail trading platforms such as Robinhood.

Scientific Awards & Honors

• Sam Harris Professor of Corporate Law, Corporate Finance, and Securities Law (endowed chair, Yale Law School)
• Top-1,524 SSRN download rank among all scholars worldwide
• Over 39,000 cumulative SSRN downloads; 6,982nd most-cited author on SSRN
• Frequent keynote speaker at ALEA, ABF, NBER Corporate Finance, and SFS Cavalcade

Advising & Grants

Macey has served as principal investigator or co-investigator on grants from the John M. Olin Foundation, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and the George Mason Law & Economics Center. He has advised the SEC, FDIC, Federal Reserve Board, and numerous international regulators on corporate governance and systemic-risk issues, and is regularly retained as an expert witness in high-profile securities and appraisal litigation.

Laboratories & Research Teams

While not running a traditional laboratory, Macey collaborates through the Yale Law & Economics Research Group and the ECGI Law Working Paper series, mentoring PhD students, post-docs, and JD researchers working at the intersection of law, finance, and public policy.