معرفی
Joshua Thornton is an Assistant Professor of Finance at the Hankamer School of Business, Baylor University. His research focuses on empirical asset pricing, behavioral finance, household finance, social finance, and investor decision making.
Thornton earned a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of California, Irvine (2017-2022) and a B.S. in Mathematics from Pepperdine University (2010-2014), where he graduated summa cum laude. Prior to his academic career, he worked as an actuarial associate for Health Net of California.
His research examines how social interactions and psychological factors influence financial decision making. Thornton investigates neighborhood effects on financial expectations, the impact of social networks on investment behavior, and how mood (proxied by weather) affects investment decisions and credit applications. His work demonstrates how social connections with higher socioeconomic status individuals significantly increase stock market participation and saving behavior.
Thornton's recent publications reveal a cohesive research agenda exploring the intersection of behavioral factors and financial markets. His 2024 papers particularly highlight how social capital influences household financial behavior and how mood states affect peer-to-peer lending decisions.
- Peer Effects in Financial Expectations (2024)
- Friends with Benefits: Social Capital and Household Financial Behavior (2024)
- Feeling Like a Loan? Mood and Credit Applications in Peer-to-Peer Lending (2024)
- Do Lenders Learn from Peer Firm Valuations? (2023)
- Does Sunshine "Cloud" Investor Judgment? (2021)
- Disposition Effect, Growth Versus Value (2021)
Thornton has presented his research at major conferences including the Financial Management Association Annual Meeting, Society for Financial Studies Annual Meeting, and Research in Behavioral Finance Conference. He teaches Introduction to Finance (FIN 3309) at Baylor and previously served as a Teaching Assistant for finance courses at the Hankamer School of Business. His teaching excellence was recognized with the Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award from the Paul Merage School of Business (2019-2020).
