Scott Ross Baker is an Associate Professor of Finance. His research is concentrated in empirical finance and macroeconomics. He is currently engaged in a variety of research projects regarding household finance, the effects of policy uncertainty on financial markets and growth, as well as the effects of unemployment benefits on job search intensity. Recent work examines the impact of household leverage and credit constraints in driving sensitivity to both income and asset shocks during the Great Recession.

Scott joined the Finance Department at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management in July 2014. Scott was born and raised in San Diego, California and received B.A.'s in Economics and Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley in 2007. He received a Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University in June 2014.

Empirical Macroeconomics, Household Finance , Economics of Uncertainty, Labor

• Ph.D., 2014, Economics, Stanford University
• M.A., 2011, Economics, Stanford University
• B.A., 2007, Economics, University of California, Berekely, University of California, Berkeley
• B.A., 2007, Political Science, University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Berkeley

• Associate Professor, Finance, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2018-present
• Assistant Professor of Finance, Finance, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2014-2018
• Visiting Scholar, Becker Friedman Institute, 2014-2014

• Data Scientist, Intuit, 2011-present

• Excellence in Refereeing, American Economic Review
• Addington Prize in Measurement, 2012
• Bachelors of Arts with Highest Honors in Economics, University of California, Berkeley, 2007
• Bachelors of Arts with Highest Honors in Political Science, University of California, Berkeley
• Bradley Research Fellowship, 2012-2013
• Donald P. Jacobs Scholar, 2013-2014
• Earl Rolph Prize and Economics Departmental Citation, 2007
• Outstanding Teaching Award, Winter 2012-2013
• Shultz Graduate Fellowship in Economic Policy, 2010
• Stanford Graduate Fellowship, 2008-2009

Finance, Entrepreneurial Finance

Field Study (FINC-498-0)
Field Studies include those opportunities outside of the regular curriculum in which a student is working with an outside company or non-profit organization to address a real-world business challenge for course credit under the oversight of a faculty member.

Entrepreneurial Finance and Venture Capital (FINC-445-0)
This course uses the case method to study entrepreneurial finance and venture capital decision focusing on the funding decisions of start-ups (fast growing entrepreneurial firms). The goal is to understand how entrepreneurs can raise funds and how venture capital partnerships and growth equity funds choose, value, structure, fund, and manage their investments. The course covers all stages of the financing process, from startup to harvest. Several cases concern technology-based businesses, though the emphasis is on gaining insights into entrepreneurial finance, not technology per se. The course will go into great details with respect to structuring multi-staged financings and valuing entrepreneurial ventures. In addition, the course provides insights on how venture capital partnership work, why do they take the forms they do, and where the crucial problems and opportunities for innovation exists. Consideration is given to the incentives faced by venture capital partnerships and the investors in those partnerships, and how to properly make financing decisions and negotiate contractual terms. Emphasis is given to high growth start-ups searching for funding in the US and venture capital funding as opposed to more traditional entrepreneurial and family firms operating globally (see FINC945 for these topics) and to Leverage Buyouts (see FINC-448 for LBOs). The course is aimed primarily at people who may be involved in an entrepreneurial venture at some point in their careers whether in a large organization, a turnaround, a management buyout or a startup. The course is also useful for venture capital careers.