Stefan Huber

Stefan Huber
  • Assistant Professor of Accounting

Contact Information

Research

  • Amy Huber, Stefan Huber, Jinqing Shan, Christina Zhu (Working), Buying from the Family: Private Equity-Owned Insurers and Their Affiliated Investments. Abstract

    Insurers are increasingly owned by financial conglomerates that also own credit originators. This structure places large pools of policyholder-backed capital within the same organization as credit businesses that require funding. We study how this integration shapes insurer investment using novel data linking ownership structures to insurers’ holdings, transactions, and regulatory stress tests. Insurers owned by private equity (PE) firms allocate over 40% of their new investments to structured securities, more than 60% of which are issued by affiliated entities owned by the same PE firm. When investing with affiliates, PE-owned insurers purchase harder-to-value securities and pay higher prices for the same security. Moreover, they provide more persistent capital to affiliated issuers, impairing and selling underwater investments less frequently. PE-owned insurers’ affiliated investments do not subsequently perform better: they have lower fair values within two years of purchase and substantially greater downside risk in regulatory stress tests. We estimate that, under a 2008 financial crisis scenario, this additional risk would reduce insurer capital by 4 percentage points beyond the baseline stress loss. Overall, our findings show that integrating capital supply and demand within the same organization has implications for policyholders and financial stability.

  • Stefan Huber, Edward Watts, Christina Zhu (2026), Information Flows in Trading Networks, Journal of Accounting and Economics, 82 (1). 10.1016/j.jacceco.2026.101876 Abstract

    We study the informational value of trading networks in over-the-counter (OTC) markets. Using detailed transaction-level data from the corporate bond market, we show that investors with larger dealer networks make superior trading decisions before changes in credit fundamentals, resulting in better risk-adjusted performance. We trace these investors’ superior trading decisions to trading connections where dealers are most likely to have access to novel credit-relevant information, supporting the interpretation that these investors obtain private information through their trading networks. Collectively, our evidence highlights the importance of trading relationships for investors’ private information acquisition.

Teaching

Past Courses

  • ACCT1010 - Acct & Financial Report

    This course is an introduction to the basic concepts and standards underlying financial accounting systems. Several important concepts will be studied in detail, including: revenue recognition, inventory, long-lived assets, present value, and long term liabilities. The course emphasizes the construction of the basic financial accounting statements - the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement - as well as their interpretation.

  • ACCT6130 - Fin and Mngl Acct

    This course provides an introduction to both financial and managerial accounting, and emphasizes the analysis and evaluation of accounting information as part of the managerial processes of planning, decision-making, and control. A large aspect of the course covers the fundamentals of financial accounting. The objective is to provide a basic overview of financial accounting, including basic accounting concepts and principles, as well as the structure of the income statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows. The course also introduces elements of managerial accounting and emphasizes the development and use of accounting information for internal decisions. Topics include cost behavior and analysis, product and service costing, and relevant costs for internal decision-making. This course is recommended for students who will be using accounting information for managing manufacturing and service operations, controlling costs, and making strategic decisions, as well as those going into general consulting or thinking of starting their own businesses.

In the News

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Activity

Latest Research

Amy Huber, Stefan Huber, Jinqing Shan, Christina Zhu (Working), Buying from the Family: Private Equity-Owned Insurers and Their Affiliated Investments.
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In the News

The Business of Signing a Superstar Athlete

Kenneth Shropshire, professor emeritus of legal studies and business ethics at the Wharton School, explores the expectations, business opportunities, and community impact that come with signing a superstar athlete like LeBron James.…Read More

Knowledge @ Wharton - 2026/10/16
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