Rawley Z. Heimer | Associate Professor of Finance, Arizona State University

About

Professor Rawley Heimer is an expert in financial markets whose research examines how households build and lose financial security through their decisions in investment and credit markets. His research shows how social networks shape investor behavior, how leverage drives retail investors’ trading and affects financial markets, and how mistaken beliefs distort saving and investment over the life cycle. Current work examines how AI affects personal finances. He also studies real estate markets, including mortgage lending and institutional investment in housing.

His research is published in leading finance and economics journals and has received numerous awards, including the Dimensional Fund Advisors Distinguished Paper Award at the Journal of Finance and the Rising Scholar Award at the Review of Financial Studies. This research has been featured in Bloomberg News, the Financial Times, Forbes, and the Wall Street Journal, among others.

Prof. Heimer is an Associate Editor at Management Science, the Review of Corporate Financial Studies, and Financial Management. Outside of academia, he was formerly an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank and served as Senior Advisor for Research and Policy at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He frequently gives presentations to asset managers and supports litigation in areas such as consumer banking, financial markets, and digital assets.

Research by topic

Retail investing and brokerage
How retail investors trade, why they so often trade against their own interests, and how leverage, trading costs, brokerage practices, and social networks change their outcomes.
Social media and finance
How online social networks and social media shape what retail investors believe and how they trade.
Consumer credit and debt
How households get, use, and repay credit, and how early-life conditions, cash windfalls, regulation, and politics shape credit access and credit outcomes.
Local banking and access to finance
How access to local banks and credit markets shapes the financial lives of households and small businesses over the long run.
Mortgage lending and housing
Who gets mortgage credit and on what terms, how racial disparities in lending emerge, and how institutional investors affect local housing markets.
Consumer protection and financial regulation
How regulation, supervision, and politics affect people who use financial services.
Saving, retirement, and inheritance
How people accumulate, spend down, and pass on wealth over the life cycle.
Behavioral finance and beliefs
Why people’s financial choices depart from what standard economic models predict.
Legal and regulatory institutions
How courts, regulators, and politics shape credit markets and what consumers get from them.

Selected publications

Dynamic Inconsistency in Risky Choice: Evidence from the Lab and Field

With Zwetelina Iliewa, Alex Imas, and Martin Weber

American Economic Review
Shale Shocked: Cash Windfalls and Household Debt Repayment

With J. Anthony Cookson and Erik P. Gilje

Journal of Financial Economics
Biased by Choice: How Financial Constraints Can Reduce Financial Mistakes

With Alex Imas

Review of Financial Studies

RFS Rising Scholar Award.
Personal Wealth, Self-Employment, and Business Ownership

With Aymeric Bellon, J. Anthony Cookson, and Erik P. Gilje

Review of Financial Studies
Politicizing Consumer Credit

With Pat Akey and Stefan Lewellen

Journal of Financial Economics
YOLO: Mortality Beliefs and Household Finance Puzzles

With Kristian Ove R. Myrseth and Raphael S. Schoenle

Journal of Finance

Dimensional Fund Advisors Distinguished Paper Award. TIAA Paul A. Samuelson Award Finalist.
Should Retail Investors’ Leverage Be Limited?

With Alp Simsek

Journal of Financial Economics

Lead article. Best Paper Finalist in Asset Pricing, SFS Cavalcade.
Growing Up Without Finance

With James R. Brown and J. Anthony Cookson

Journal of Financial Economics

Financial Times list of business school research with social impact. TIAA Paul A. Samuelson Award Finalist.
Law and Finance Matter: Lessons from Externally Imposed Courts

With James R. Brown and J. Anthony Cookson

Review of Financial Studies

Best Paper in Financial Markets and Institutions, FMA Annual Meeting.
Peer Pressure: Social Interaction and the Disposition Effect

Review of Financial Studies

All publications

Working papers

Temporal Focal Points and Economic Outcomes: Evidence from U.S. Mortgage Lending

With Marco Giacoletti and Edison Yu
Fallible Firms: The Economics of Consumer Redress

With Charlotte Haendler
Pushing Boundaries: Political Redistricting and Consumer Credit

With Pat Akey, Christine Dobridge, and Stefan Lewellen
Five Facts about Bequest Motives

With Xiang Li
The Wealth Draw-down of the Fabulously Rich: Insights from Private Family Foundations

With Changhyun Ahn

Draft available on request
Single-Family REITs and Local Housing Markets

With Marco Giacoletti, Wenli Li, and Edison Yu
Brokerage Commissions and Trading Volume: Lessons from the 20th Century

With Valeria Fedyk

Draft available on request
Borrowing Young, Paying Later

With Allison Cole and Igor Livshits

Draft available on request
Waiting for Wealth: Inheritances and Household Savings

With Eirik Eylands Brandsaas and Mateo Velásquez-Giraldo

Draft available on request

Working papers with summaries

Positions and affiliations

Associate Professor of Finance, W. P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University2022–
Associate Editor, Management Science2025–
Associate Editor, Review of Corporate Financial Studies2022–
Associate Editor, Financial Management2022–
Visiting Scholar, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia2024–
Affiliated Faculty, W. P. Carey Center for Real Estate and Finance2024–
Affiliate, The Bureau Consulting Group2025–
Senior Advisor for Research and Policy, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau2022–2025
Assistant Professor of Finance, Boston College2017–2022
Research Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland2013–2017

Education

Ph.D., International Economics and Finance, Brandeis University2013
B.A., Economics, University of Rochester2005

In the media

Wall Street Journal: How to Make Peace With Your Stock Market Losses
Bloomberg: Brokers Flock to Paradise of Sun, Sand and ‘Unlimited’ Leverage
PBS NewsHour: How Growing Up in a Bank Desert Can Hurt Your Credit for Life
Børsen: Tech Darling Lost Billions on AI Stocks

All media coverage