Winner of the 2019 Charles River Associates Award for Best Paper on Corporate Finance from the Western Finance Association with Rebecca Diamond, Timothy McQuade, and Beatriz Pousada for “The Contribution of High-Skilled Immigrants to Innovation in the United States.”
Shai Benjamin Bernstein
MBA Class of 1960 Professor of Business Administration
Co-Unit Head, Entrepreneurial Management
MBA Class of 1960 Professor of Business Administration
Co-Unit Head, Entrepreneurial Management
Shai Bernstein is the Marvin Bower Associate Professor in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School and a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) in both the Corporate Finance group and the Productivity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship group. Much of his research focuses on financial issues related to start-ups, and high growth firms, and the interaction of these issues with innovation and entrepreneurial activity. He teaches the Entrepreneurial Finance course in the MBA elective curriculum. Shai completed his Ph.D. in Business Economics at Harvard University. Prior to joining Harvard Business School, Shai spent eight years as a faculty at Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Personal website: https://sites.google.com/view/shai-bernstein/home
Entrepreneurial Management
Shai Bernstein is the Marvin Bower Associate Professor in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School and a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) in both the Corporate Finance group and the Productivity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship group. Much of his research focuses on financial issues related to start-ups, and high growth firms, and the interaction of these issues with innovation and entrepreneurial activity. He teaches the Entrepreneurial Finance course in the MBA elective curriculum. Shai completed his Ph.D. in Business Economics at Harvard University. Prior to joining Harvard Business School, Shai spent eight years as a faculty at Stanford Graduate School of Business
Personal website: https://sites.google.com/view/shai-bernstein/home
- Working Papers
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- Bernstein, Shai Benjamin, Emanuele Colonnelli, Mitchell Hoffman, and Benjamin Iverson. "Life After Death: A Field Experiment with Small Businesses on Information Frictions, Stigma, and Bankruptcy." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 30933, February 2023. View Details
- Bernstein, Shai Benjamin, Kunal Mehta, Richard Townsend, and Ting Xu. "Do Startups Benefit from Their Investors' Reputation? Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 22-060, February 2022. View Details
- Bai, Jessica, Shai Bernstein, Abhishek Dev, and Josh Lerner. "The Dance Between Government and Private Investors: Public Entrepreneurial Finance around the Globe." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 21-120, April 2021. (Revised January 2022.) View Details
- Bernstein, Shai, Richard Townsend, and Ting Xu. "Flight to Safety: How Economic Downturns Affect Talent Flows to Startups." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 21-045, September 2020. (Revised March 2022.) View Details
- Bernstein, Shai, Rebecca Diamond, Abhisit Jiranaphawiboon, Timothy McQuade, and Beatriz Pousada. "The Contribution of High-Skilled Immigrants to Innovation in the United States." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 22-065, December 2021. (NBER Working Paper Series, No. 30797, December 2022.) View Details
- Journal Articles
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- Bernstein, Shai, Richard Townsend, and Ting Xu. "Flight to Safety: How Economic Downturns Affect Talent Flows to Startups." Review of Financial Studies 37, no. 3 (March 2024): 837–881. View Details
- Bernstein, Shai. "The Effects of Public and Private Equity Markets on Firm Behavior." Annual Review of Financial Economics 14 (2022): 295–318. View Details
- Bernstein, Shai, and Scott Duke Kominers. "Why Decentralized Crypto Platforms Are Weathering the Crash." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (December 7, 2022). View Details
- Bernstein, Shai Benjamin, Emanuele Colonnelli, Davide Malacrino, and Timothy McQuade. "Who Creates New Firms When Local Opportunities Arise?" Journal of Financial Economics 143, no. 1 (January 2022): 107–130. View Details
- Bernstein, Shai, Josh Lerner, and Filippo Mezzanotti. "Private Equity and Portfolio Companies: Lessons from the Global Financial Crisis." Journal of Applied Corporate Finance 32, no. 3 (Summer 2020): 21–41. View Details
- Bernstein, S., T. McQuade, and R. Townsend. "Do Household Wealth Shocks Affect Productivity? Evidence from Innovative Workers During the Great Recession." Journal of Finance 76, no. 1 (February 2021): 57–111. View Details
- Bernstein, Shai, Abhishek Dev, and Josh Lerner. "The Creation and Evolution of Entrepreneurial Public Markets." Journal of Financial Economics 136, no. 2 (May 2020): 307–329. View Details
- Bernstein, Shai, Emanuele Colonnelli, Xavier Giroud, and Benjamin Iverson. "Bankruptcy Spillovers." Special Issue on Labor and Finance. Journal of Financial Economics 133, no. 3 (September 2019): 608–633. View Details
- Bernstein, Shai, Josh Lerner, and Filippo Mezzanotti. "Private Equity and Financial Fragility during the Crisis." Review of Financial Studies 32, no. 4 (April 2019): 1309–1373. (Earlier version distributed as National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 23626 and Harvard Business School Working Paper No. 18-005.) View Details
- Bernstein, S., E. Colonnelli, and B. Iverson. "Asset Allocation in Bankruptcy." Journal of Finance 74, no. 1 (February 2019): 5–53. (Lead Article.) View Details
- Bernstein, S., A. Korteweg, and K. Laws. "Attracting Early Stage Investors: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment." Journal of Finance 72, no. 2 (April 2017): 509–538. (Lead Article.) View Details
- Bernstein, Shai, and Albert Sheen. "The Operational Consequences of Private Equity Buyouts: Evidence from the Restaurant Industry." Review of Financial Studies 29, no. 9 (September 2016): 2387–2418. View Details
- Bernstein, S., X. Giroud, and R. Townsend. "The Impact of Venture Capital Monitoring." Journal of Finance 71, no. 4 (August 2016): 1591–1622. View Details
- Bernstein, Shai, Josh Lerner, Morten Sorensen, and Per Stromberg. "Private Equity and Industry Performance." Management Science 63, no. 4 (April 2017): 1198–1213. View Details
- Bernstein, S. "Does Going Public Affect Innovation?" Journal of Finance 70, no. 4 (August 2015): 1365–1403. (Brattle Prize Winner for Best Paper in the Journal of Finance.) View Details
- Bernstein, Shai, Josh Lerner, and Antoinette Schoar. "The Investment Strategies of Sovereign Wealth Funds." Journal of Economic Perspectives 27, no. 2 (Spring 2013): 219–238. View Details
- Bernstein, Shai, and Eyal Winter. "Contracting with Heterogeneous Externalities." American Economic Journal: Microeconomics 4, no. 2 (May 2012): 50–76. View Details
- Cases and Teaching Materials
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- Bernstein, Shai, and Liang Wu. "a16z: Governance in Decentralized Protocols (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 825-069, October 2024. View Details
- Bernstein, Shai, and Liang Wu. "a16z: Governance in Decentralized Protocols (A)." Harvard Business School Case 825-068, October 2024. View Details
- Bernstein, Shai, Josh Lerner, and Sabrina T. Howell. "The Israeli Innovation Authority: Decision-Making in a Time of Uncertainty." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 825-052, July 2024. View Details
- Kominers, Scott Duke, Shai Bernstein, and Liang Wu. "Farcaster." Harvard Business School Case 824-178, April 2024. View Details
- Bernstein, Shai Benjamin, Scott Duke Kominers, and George Gonzalez. "Stellar Development Foundation." Harvard Business School Case 824-060, July 2024. View Details
- Bernstein, Shai, Sabrina Howell, and Josh Lerner. "The Israeli Innovation Authority: Decision-making in a Time of Uncertainty." Harvard Business School Case 824-198, April 2024. (Revised August 2024.) View Details
- Colonnelli, Emanuele, Raymond Kluender, and Shai Benjamin Bernstein. "TimeCredit." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 824-171, February 2024. View Details
- Colonnelli, Emanuele, Raymond Kluender, and Shai Benjamin Bernstein. "TimeCredit." Harvard Business School Case 824-139, February 2024. (Revised September 2024.) View Details
- Bernstein, Shai, William R. Kerr, Christopher Stanton, Raymond Kluender, and Mel Martin. "Chime Solutions." Harvard Business School Case 824-133, February 2024. View Details
- Bernstein, Shai, and Allison M. Ciechanover. "Ribbit Capital and the Gauntlet Investment Opportunity." Harvard Business School Case 823-038, December 2022. (Revised August 2023.) View Details
- Bernstein, Shai Benjamin, Scott Duke Kominers, and George Gonzalez. "LooksRare: The Decentralized, Tokenized, NFT Marketplace." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 823-046, August 2022. View Details
- Kominers, Scott Duke, Shai Bernstein, and George Gonzalez. "LooksRare: The Decentralized, Tokenized, NFT Marketplace." Harvard Business School Case 822-119, March 2022. (Revised August 2022.) View Details
- Bernstein, Shai, William R. Kerr, Jim Matheson, Christopher Stanton, and Ria Mazumdar. "Chime Solutions." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 822-135, May 2022. View Details
- Bernstein, Shai. "Managing Exits and Liquidity in Entrepreneurial Finance." Harvard Business School Module Note 822-107, March 2022. View Details
- Bernstein, Shai Benjamin. "Luminar and the Rise of SPACs." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 822-106, February 2022. (Revised March 2022.) View Details
- Gompers, Paul A., Shai Bernstein, Matthew Wozny, and Alex Gachanja. "Luminar and the Rise of SPACs." Harvard Business School Case 221-099, June 2021. View Details
- Bernstein, Shai. "CleanWater, Inc.: Running Dry & Out of Time." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 821-048, October 2020. (Revised March 2022.) View Details
- Bernstein, Shai. "NewView Capital and Venture Capital Secondaries." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 821-049, October 2020. (Revised March 2022.) View Details
- Lerner, Josh, Shai Bernstein, and Terrence Shu. "PROOF: Pro Rata Opportunity Fund." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 820-085, January 2020. View Details
- Lerner, Josh, Shai Bernstein, Ann Leamon, and Richard Sessa. "GeBBS Healthcare Solutions: Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind? (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 820-074, December 2019. View Details
- Lerner, Josh, Shai Bernstein, and Terrence Shu. "PROOF: Pro Rata Opportunity Fund." Harvard Business School Case 820-030, August 2019. View Details
- Lerner, Josh, Shai Bernstein, Ann Leamon, and Richard Sessa. "GeBBS Healthcare Solutions: Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?" Harvard Business School Case 820-041, December 2019. View Details
- Lerner, Josh, Shai Bernstein, and Ann Leamon. "Hony Capital and Jushi Group." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 820-073, December 2019. View Details
- Lerner, Josh, Shai Bernstein, and Ann Leamon. "Hony Capital and Jushi Group." Harvard Business School Case 820-040, October 2019. View Details
- Bernstein, Shai Benjamin. "GeBBS Healthcare Solutions: Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind? (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 820-094, January 2020. View Details
- Bernstein, Shai, Ramana Nanda, and Allison Ciechanover. "NewView Capital and Venture Capital Secondaries." Harvard Business School Case 820-038, October 2019. (Revised January 2020.) View Details
- Awards & Honors
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Selected as Dhirubhai Ambani Faculty Scholar in Entrepreneurship, Stanford Graduate School of Business, 2015-2016.
- Additional Information