SCOTT M. GILPATRIC, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Tennessee. He specializes in microeconomic theory and industrial organization. His current work in corporate governance addresses how competition within firms for promotion, bonuses, or other rewards, can spur risk-taking and malfeasance. This work has implications for how managerial compensation can best be structured to deter managers from engaging in behavior contrary to the interests of the firm. In part based on this research Dr. Gilpatric, together with colleagues Mary Evans, Mike McKee, and Christian Vossler, recently received a grant from the EPA to study the effects of financial distress, organizational structure, and auditing rules on firm emissions and compliance with environmental information disclosure programs.

Dr. Gilpatric has co-authored two papers on bankruptcy which were published in the American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review and International Business and Economics Research Journal. The first paper addressed how and under what circumstances bankruptcy reorganization, such as that under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, can best serve a firm’s creditors and other stakeholders. The second paper explored how financial distress and bankruptcy influence the risk-preferences of a firm’s managers, in some cases inducing them to take great risks to stave off bankruptcy while in other circumstances discouraging efficient risk-taking. His current research interests include modeling how product market competition impacts managerial incentives and disciplines managerial slack, and the design of contractual mechanisms for obtaining optimal effort from managers.

In addition to his work in the area of corporate governance Dr. Gilpatric’s research has examined job-search procrastination, the logic of retail rebate programs, and the response of public schools to competition from charter schools. Before joining the faculty of the University of Tennessee, he taught at Texas A&M University, where he earned his Ph.D., and at the University of Texas at Austin. While at Texas A&M University, Dr. Gilpatric was part of a team that developed a proposal to the Texas Legislature for public school finance reform. It used a Cost of Education Index constructed from an analysis of the relative cost differences among school districts of educating students depending on factors such as students, teachers, and labor market data.