David Hirshleifer, Robert G. Kirby Chair in Behavioral Finance and professor of finance and business economics, was appointed a Distinguished Professor by USC, among the university’s highest honors. Honorees are nominated by their fellow faculty members, and annual appointments are awarded for scholarly success.

“These distinctions are awarded annually to select outstanding faculty who have brought great distinction and honor to our university through their work,” Andrew T. Guzman, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, wrote in an email to the university community. “Their research enlightens and enriches collective understandings outside of USC and contributes to the advancement of society.”

Hirshleifer’s research focuses on modern finance. His pioneering work on information cascades, investor overconfidence, and his creation of the emerging field of “social finance” have had transformative effects across economics, finance and the behavioral sciences.

“I’m deeply honored by this recognition,” Hirshleifer said. “It reflects the exceptional research environment at USC and Marshall, and to the collaborators whose ideas and efforts have been central to our work. I hope that it underscores the importance of psychological and social processes for understanding economic and financial outcomes and the uses of such understanding for business decisions and for society.”

Hirshleifer is a fellow and former president of the American Finance Association, as well as a fellow of the Financial Management Association, the Finance Theory Group and the Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research. He has served as executive editor of the Review of Financial Studies, director of the American and Western Finance associations, and as an editor at other leading finance, economics and business journals. He has written over 80 peer-reviewed articles that have garnered nearing 69,000 Google Scholar Citations.

The professor’s path-breaking research has also won distinguished awards, including the Hillcrest Behavioral Finance Award and Smith Breeden Prize for outstanding paper in the Journal of Finance.