RYAN BUBB

University of Southern California Gould School of Law

699 W Exposition Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90089

(213) 821-0513rbubb@law.usc.edu


Employment

2025–

University of Southern California Gould School of Law

Visiting Professor of Law, 2025–2026; Professor of Law, beginning 2026

2022–

New York University School of Law

Robert B. McKay Professor of Law, 2022–present; Professor of Law, 2015–2022; Associate Professor of Law, 2013–2014; Assistant Professor of Law, 2010–2013

Spring 2016

Harvard Law School

Austin Wakeman Scott Visiting Professor of Law, Spring 2016

Winter 2015

Stanford Law School

Visiting Associate Professor of Law, Winter 2015

2010–

Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission

Senior Researcher, 2010

2009–

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget

Policy Analyst, 2009–2010

2004–

Covington & Burling

Summer Associate, 2004

2002–

District of Columbia Public Defender Service

Law Clerk, 2002

Education

2011

Ph.D., Political Economy and Government, Harvard University

Dissertation: Essays in Institutional Economics

Committee: O. Hart, M. Kremer, S. Mullainathan, A. Shleifer

2005

J.D., Yale Law School

2005

M.A., Economics, Yale University

1998

B.S., Physics, College of William and Mary

Courses Taught

  • Corporations
  • Corporate Law and Economics
  • Survey of Securities Regulation
  • Law and Economics Colloquium: Business Law & Economics
  • Economic Analysis of Public Law
  • Behavioral Law and Economics
  • Lederman Fellows Workshop

Publications and Works in Progress

Corporate Governance

Works in Progress

Corporate Politicization

with V. Fos, W. Jiang, H. Nie

The Anatomy of M&A Governance

with E. Catan

Splitting Caremark's Atom

with G. Cohen

The Entitlement Structure of Corporate Law

with E. Catan, H. Spamann

Publications

forth.

Review of Good Company, by Lenore Palladino

Journal of Economic Literature

2024

Corporate Social Responsibility through Shareholder Governance

97 Southern California Law Review 417

with R. Bartlett

2022

The Party Structure of Mutual Funds

35 Review of Financial Studies 2839

with E. Catan

Household Finance

2020

An Equilibrium Theory of Retirement Plan Design

12 American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 22

with P. Warren

2015

A Behavioral Contract Theory Perspective on Retirement Savings

47 Connecticut Law Review 1317

with P. Corrigan, P. Warren

2013

Consumer Biases and Mutual Ownership

105 Journal of Public Economics 39

with A. Kaufman

2012

Credit Card Pricing: The CARD Act and Beyond

97 Cornell Law Review 967

with O. Bar-Gill

Selected as one of the Top 10 Corporate and Securities Articles of 2012 by Corporate Practice Commentator

Financial Regulation

2018
2014

Securitization and Moral Hazard: Evidence from Credit Score Cutoff Rules

63 Journal of Monetary Economics 1

with A. Kaufman

Regulatory Theory

2026

Differentiation through Legal Uncertainty

56 Journal of Legal Studies

with G. Dari-Mattiacci

2014

How Behavioral Economics Trims Its Sails and Why

127 Harvard Law Review 1593

with R. Pildes

2014

Optimal Agency Bias and Regulatory Review

43 Journal of Legal Studies 95

with P. Warren

International Law & Development

2011

The Economics of International Refugee Law

40 Journal of Legal Studies 367

with M. Kremer, D. Levine

2007

BITs and Bargains: Strategic Aspects of Bilateral and Multilateral Regulation of Foreign Investment

27 International Review of Law and Economics 291

with S. Rose-Ackerman

Popular Writing

2009

A Fairer Credit Card? Priceless

New York Times, Op-Ed, June 23, 2009

with A. Kaufman

Honors, Fellowships, and Grants

2024

Scholar-in-Residence, Columbia Law School

2014

Podell Distinguished Teaching Award, NYU School of Law

2014

Senior Visiting Scholar, U.C. Berkeley School of Law

2013

Visiting Fellow, Becker Friedman Institute, University of Chicago

2011

Visiting Scholar, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

2009

Eliot Dissertation Completion Fellowship, Harvard University

2008–2009

Terence M. Considine Fellow in Law and Economics, John M. Olin Center for Law, Economics, and Business, Harvard Law School

2008–2009

Graduate Fellow, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

2008–2009

Hewlett Foundation grant for fieldwork for "States, Law, and Property Rights in West Africa"

2007–2008

Project on Justice, Welfare, and Economics Dissertation Fellowship, Harvard University

2006

Warburg Funds Award, Department of Economics, Harvard University

1998

Harrison Prize for Excellence in Physics, College of William and Mary

1997

Phi Beta Kappa, College of William and Mary

Scholarly Presentations

2025

UCLA Law School Business Law Workshop, University of Texas at Austin School of Law Business Law Workshop, University of Texas at Austin School of Law Faculty Workshop, University of Amsterdam Law & Economics Workshop, NYU-SAFE/ESCP BS Law & Finance Conference.

2024

University of Chicago Law School Faculty Workshop, NBER Summer Institute, Notre Dame Law School Law & Economics Workshop, University of Southern California School of Law Faculty Workshop, Columbia Law School Faculty Workshop.

2023

UC Berkeley Law & Economics Workshop, Stanford Law & Economics Workshop, University of Amsterdam Law & Economics Workshop, Columbia Law School Law & Economics Workshop, Harvard Law School Law & Economics Workshop, University of Chicago Law School Law & Economics Workshop, Georgetown Law Faculty Workshop, University of Michigan Faculty Workshop.

2022

Hebrew University Faculty of Law, Private and Commercial Law Workshop; American Law and Economics Association Annual Meeting; University of Texas at Austin, Law & Economics Workshop; Cornell Law School, Faculty Workshop.

2021

Goethe University, Center for Advanced Studies on the Foundations of Law and Finance; University of Hamburg, Hamburg Lectures in Law & Economics; Columbia Law School, Conference Celebrating Henry Hansmann's Book: Ownership of Enterprise; University of California at Berkeley, Organizations and Social Impact Workshop; Max Planck Institute for Collective Goods, Research Seminar.

2019

Columbia Law School Faculty Workshop; NBER Summer Institute; Northwestern University Law School Law & Economics Workshop; UNC Chapel Hill Law School Faculty Workshop.

2018

Oxford University, Business Law Workshop; NYU-Penn Law & Finance Conference; University of Michigan Law & Economics Workshop; University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business Financial Regulation Conference; Swedish House of Finance Conference on Sustainable Finance; Harvard Law School, Law, Economics & Organizations Workshop.

2017

University of California Berkeley, Haas School of Business, Oliver E. Williamson Seminar on Institutional Analysis; Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, Law & Economics Workshop; University of Texas at Austin, Law & Economics Workshop; 2017 NYU / SAFE / ETH Law & Banking Conference; Boston College; Harvard Law School Bicentennial.

2016

Duke Law School, Law & Economics Workshop; NYU / Penn Law & Finance Conference; Behavioral Exchange 2016 Conference; American Law & Economics Association Annual Meeting; NBER Law & Economics Summer Institute; National Tax Association Annual Conference; University of Chicago Law & Economics Workshop; University of Amsterdam Empirical Legal Studies Workshop; Copenhagen Business School, Financial Regulation Seminar; Conference on Empirical Legal Studies; Missouri Law Review Symposium, Evaluating Nudge: A Decade of Libertarian Paternalism.

2015

Financial Regulation and Consumer Choice Conference, Vanderbilt Law School; Seton Hall University School of Law, Faculty Workshop; Notre Dame Law School, Law & Economics Workshop; The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Legal Studies & Business Ethics Seminar; Yale Law School, Faculty Workshop; Harvard Law School, Faculty Workshop; Columbia Law School, Faculty Workshop; Duke Law School, Faculty Workshop; Stanford Law School, Faculty Workshop; UC Berkeley School of Law, Faculty Workshop.

2014

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Workshop on Evolving Approaches for Valuing the Benefits of Consumer Protection Regulations; Harvard Law School, Law and Economics Workshop; Journal of Law, Finance & Accounting Conference, Discussant; NYU Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy; 6th Annual Berle Symposium: Blair, Stout and Beyond, Seattle University School of Law; Political Economy and Public Law Conference, University of Rochester, Discussant; ETH Zurich / NYU Conference on Regulating Risk Taking in a Post Credit Crisis Environment; Columbia Law School, Administrative Law & Financial Regulation Conference, Commenter; NYU/Penn Law and Finance Conference, Discussant.

2013

Behavioral Insights Team, UK Cabinet Office; Financial Conduct Authority, UK; UNC Charlotte / Atlanta Fed, Government Involvement in Residential Mortgage Finance Conference, Discussant; New York University School of Law, Legal History Colloquium; Harvard Law School, Law and Economics Workshop; University of Virginia Law School, Law and Economics Workshop; University of Chicago Law School, Summer Workshop; Political Economy and Public Law Conference, Washington University in St. Louis; American Law and Economics Association Annual Meeting; University of California Berkeley School of Law, Law and Economics Seminar; Stanford Law School, Law and Economics Seminar; University of Chicago, Harris School of Public Policy Studies, Political Economy Workshop; University of Chicago Law School, Law and Economics Seminar.

2012

Yale Law School, Law, Economics and Organizations Seminar; Conference on Empirical Legal Studies, Discussant; Harvard Law School, Law, Economics and Organizations Seminar; New York University School of Law, Law, Economics, and Politics Colloquium; Hunter College Department of Economics, Faculty Workshop; Brooklyn Law School, Faculty Workshop; Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Research Seminar; Rice University / University of Houston Applied Economics Workshop; NBER Law & Economics Meeting, Discussant; NYU/Penn Law & Finance Conference, Discussant.

2011

Columbia Law School, Blue Sky Workshop; Northwestern University Law School, Law and Economics Colloquium; Northeastern Universities Development Conference; University of Toronto Faculty of Law, Law & Economics Workshop; Cornell Law School, Symposium: Financial Regulatory Reform in the Wake of the Dodd-Frank Act; New York University School of Law, Faculty Workshop; University of California Berkeley, Haas School of Business, Oliver E. Williamson Seminar on Institutional Analysis; Colorado Business Law Junior Faculty Workshop; NBER Law & Economics Meeting, Discussant; Federal Reserve Bank of New York; Stanford / Yale Junior Faculty Forum; American Law and Economics Association Annual Meeting; European University Institute Conference on Rethinking Financial Institutions and their Regulation; Brookings Institution, Meeting on Consumer Financial Protection Research and Policy; NYU/Penn Law and Finance Conference.

2010

Conference on Empirical Legal Studies, Discussant; Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Conference on Bank Structure and Competition.

2009

Georgetown University Law Center, Law and Economics Workshop; Conference on Empirical Legal Studies; NBER Summer Institute, Law and Economics Session; Frontiers in the Economic Analysis of Contract Law Conference, University of Bonn; American Law and Economics Association Annual Meeting; Federal Reserve Bank of Boston; University of Ghana, Institute for Statistical, Social, and Economic Research, Faculty Seminar.

Professional Activities

2008

Bar Admission: New York

2019–2022

Member, Board of Directors, American Law & Economics Association

2019–2020

Co-Editor, Journal of Legal Analysis

2018–present

Research Member, European Corporate Governance Institute

Refereeing:

  • Journal of Legal Analysis
  • Journal of Public Economics
  • Journal of Empirical Legal Studies
  • Journal of Legal Studies
  • Journal of Law & Social Inquiry
  • American Law and Economics Review
  • Quarterly Journal of Economics
  • American Economic Review
  • Journal of the European Economic Association
  • Review of Industrial Organization
  • Review of Finance
  • Conference on Empirical Legal Studies
  • Journal of Financial Regulation