Shai B. Bernstein

Shai B. Bernstein serves as the Marvin Bower Associate Professor in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School and holds a concurrent position as Research Fellow at the Leibniz Institute for Economic Research Halle (IWH) since July 2023. He is also a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), with primary research focused on entrepreneurial finance, innovation dynamics, and startup labor markets.

Bernstein's scholarly work examines how economic conditions shape entrepreneurial activity, particularly talent flows to startups during downturns, the comparative impacts of public versus private equity markets on firm behavior, and the role of high-skilled immigrants in driving innovation. His methodological approach frequently combines large-scale proprietary datasets with randomized field experiments to establish causal mechanisms in entrepreneurship and finance.

Analysis of his 15 most recent publications (2017-2024) reveals three dominant research threads: (1) cyclical patterns in startup labor markets during economic shocks, (2) institutional complementarities between public and private capital markets in fostering innovation, and (3) demographic and opportunity-driven factors in entrepreneurial firm creation. These studies consistently bridge theoretical finance with real-world policy implications for innovation ecosystems.

His scholarly recognition includes:

• Brattle Prize for Best Paper in the Journal of Finance (2015)
• Charles River Associates Award for Best Paper in Corporate Finance (Western Finance Association 2019)
• NBER Faculty Research Fellowship

While specific student advising details are not publicly documented, Bernstein actively contributes to academic discourse through his NBER affiliation and extensive co-authorship network. His research collaborations span institutions globally, as evidenced by publications with scholars from Harvard, University of Chicago, and international universities.

Bernstein maintains strong institutional ties through Harvard Business School's Entrepreneurial Management Unit and the IWH's Department of Legislation, Regulation, and Factor Markets, where he investigates policy implications of his empirical findings on entrepreneurial finance.