Telfer School of Management
Miwako Nitani holds a PhD in Finance from the Sprott School of Business, Carleton University, where her doctoral dissertation examined structural challenges in the Canadian venture capital sector. She has taught courses in statistics, equity valuation, and international financial management. She has contributed to policy-related research projects for Industry Canada and Export Development Canada, including: work related to the parliamentary review of the Business Development Bank of Canada and research that examines risk of loans in the Canada Small Business Financing Program. Her research has been published in academic journals such as Venture Capital: An International Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance, International Journal of Managerial Finance, International Small Business Journal, and International Business and Economics Research Journal.
Professor Nitani’s research encompasses: the roles of banks and governments; junior stock exchanges; credit rationing; liquidity constraints and bank lending; corporate governance and insider trading; stock return volatility; thin-trading; liquidity premiums in stock prices; and the information content implied in stock option prices. A particular aspect of her research relates to the financing of entrepreneurial firms, including the evaluation of existing (and design of new) public policies. Overall, her research seeks to understand how to achieve smoother capital flows in Canada and wealth maximization for society as a whole. Her work identifies obstacles facing companies in need of capital and evaluates existing, and informs new, public policies in support of business creation and growth.