Hans B. Christensen

About

Hans B. Christensen is the Chookaszian Family Professor of Accounting and a David G. Booth Faculty Fellow at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. His current research primarily focuses on the effect on society of regulation aimed at incentivizing firms to act socially responsible. This includes studying the impact of transparency regulation on healthcare prices and labor safety, as well as foreign corruption regulation on economic development. His work has been published in prominent academic journals such as the Journal of Accounting Economics, the Journal of Accounting Research, Review of Accounting Studies, and Review of Financial Studies. Before joining the faculty at Chicago Booth in 2008, Christensen worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where he audited financial statements prepared according to US-GAAP, IFRS, and various European standards, and was involved in complex deals such as M&A transactions. His experience at PwC gave him insight into how firms choose to account for similar events differently across countries, which now informs his research on accounting choices and their consequences. Christensen earned a PhD in accounting from Manchester Business School in the United Kingdom. Outside of academia, he has been preparing for the Chicago Marathon for the past ten years and enjoys traveling.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Business
• Accounting
• Computer Science
• Computer Security
• Law
• Finance
• Economics
• Public relations
• Monetary economics

Selected publications

• Mandatory CSR and sustainability reporting: economic analysis and literature review

  Review of Accounting Studies · 2021 · 1551 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract This study collates potential economic effects of mandated disclosure and reporting standards for corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability topics. We first outline key features of CSR reporting. Next, we draw on relevant academic literatures in accounting, finance, economics, and management to discuss and evaluate the potential economic consequences of a requirement for CSR and sustainability reporting for U.S. firms, including effects in capital markets, on stakeholders…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Only Prescription Is Transparency: The Effect of Charge-Price-Transparency Regulation on Healthcare Prices

  Management Science · 2020 · 69 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  We examine the effect of charge-price-transparency regulation (PTR)—a common policy solution intended to curb rising healthcare costs—on hospitals’ prices. We find that, although PTR does not affect payments or consumer search, it does cause hospitals to reduce charges by approximately 5%. The reputational costs of perceived overcharging appear to be one impetus for the reduction in charges, suggesting that certain stakeholders who are able to impose costs on hospitals are unaware that hospitals…

  PublisherDOI

• Proactive financial reporting enforcement and shareholder wealth

  Journal of Accounting and Economics · 2019-10-14 · 52 citations

  article1st author
  PublisherDOI

• Policeman for the World: The Impact of Extraterritorial FCPA Enforcement on Foreign Investment and Internal Controls

  The Accounting Review · 2021-12-10 · 42 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  ABSTRACT We show that a mid-2000s increase in extraterritorial enforcement of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), characterized by greater international regulatory cooperation and more frequent use of the FCPA's accounting provisions, has a significant deterrent effect on foreign direct investment in high-corruption-risk countries. The decrease in investment is at least as large for non-U.S. as for U.S. firms, suggesting that widespread extraterritorial enforcement helps to create a l…

  PublisherDOI

• Financial shocks to lenders and the composition of financial covenants

  Journal of Accounting and Economics · 2021-06-21 · 36 citations

  article1st author
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Christian Leuz

  185 shared

• Luzi Hail

  European Corporate Governance Institute

  148 shared

• Mark G. Maffett

  17 shared

• Valeri V. Nikolaev

  13 shared

• Martin Walker

  Mott MacDonald (Czechia)

  9 shared

• Edward Lee

  University of Manchester

  7 shared

• Thomas Rauter

  7 shared

• Lisa Yao Liu

  5 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Accounting

  Manchester Business School

  2008

Awards & honors

• Distinguished Alumni Award

Similar researchers at University of Chicago

• Anthony Leh-33
• Philip G. Bergerh-27