Economists

Rebecca Zarutskie

Senior Vice President and Senior Research Advisor
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

As senior vice president and senior research advisor, Rebecca Zarutskie is responsible for advising Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan on matters related to monetary policy and leads Research Department efforts to advance research thought leadership and its integration into the policy process.

Zarutskie joined the Dallas Fed in 2024 from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors’ Division of Monetary Affairs, where she served as a deputy associate director and as special advisor to Governor Michelle Bowman. In these roles, she provided advice on matters related to monetary policy and financial stability and led staff research and analysis on the financial sector and transmission of monetary policy, including the analysis of banking conditions and broader financial conditions and their effects on economic activity. Zarutskie joined the Board in 2012 as a senior economist before being named chief of the Banking and Financial Analysis Section in the Division of Monetary Affairs in 2015 and being named to the Board’s official staff in 2018.

Zarutskie has published widely cited research on financial institutions and markets, corporate finance, labor markets and entrepreneurship. She has taught courses in finance and economics at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, Duke University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Zarutskie earned a PhD in economics from MIT and bachelor’s degrees in economics and applied mathematics and statistics from the Johns Hopkins University.

Publications

“IPOs, Human Capital and Labor Reallocation,” with Tania Babina and Paige Ouimet, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, conditionally accepted, 2024. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2692845.

“When Does Higher Firm Leverage Lead to Higher Employee Pay?” with Tim Dore, Review of Corporate Finance Studies, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 36–77, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1093/rcfs/cfac032.

“Acquiring Labor,” with Paige Ouimet, Quarterly Journal of Finance, vol. 10, no. 3, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1142/S2010139220500111.

“Large-Scale Buy-to-Rent Investors in the Single-Family Housing Market: The Emergence of a New Asset Class?” with Raven Molloy and James Mills, Real Estate Economics, vol. 47, pp. 399–430, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-6229.12189.

“CEO's Age and the Performance of Closely Held Firms,” with Sharon Belenzon and Anastasiya Shamshur, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 40, pp. 917–944, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3003.

“How Did Young Firms Fare During the Great Recession? Evidence from the Kauffman Firm Survey, with Tiantian Yang, in Haltiwanger, John, Erik Hurst, Javier Miranda, and Antoinette Schoar eds., Measuring Entrepreneurial Businesses: Current Knowledge and Challenges, NBER and University of Chicago Press, 2017.

“Married to the Firm? A Large-Scale Investigation of the Social Context of Ownership,” with Sharon Belenzon and Andrea Patacconi, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 37, pp. 2611–2638, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2441.

“Who Works for Startups? The Relation between Firm Age, Employee Age and Growth,” with Paige Ouimet, Journal of Financial Economics, vol. 112, pp. 386–407, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2014.03.003.

“Competition, Financial Innovation and Commercial Bank Loan Portfolios,” Journal of Financial Intermediation, vol. 22, pp. 373–396, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfi.2013.02.001.

“On the Lifecycle Dynamics of Venture-Capital- and Non-Venture-Capital-Financed Firms,” with Manju Puri, Journal of Finance, vol. 67, pp. 2243–2297, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.2012.01786.x.

“The Role of Top Management Team Human Capital in Venture Capital Markets: Evidence from First-time Funds,” Journal of Business Venturing, vol. 25, pp. 155–172, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2008.05.008.

“Evidence on the Tradeoff between Risk and Return for IPO and SEO Firms,” with A. Brav, R. Michaely and M. Roberts, Financial Management, Summer, pp. 221–252, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-053X.2009.01034.x.

“Competition and Specialization in Credit Markets,” 2009, in Proceedings of the 45th Annual Conference on Bank Structure and Competition, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, pp. 183–201.

“Evidence on the Effects of Bank Competition on Firm Borrowing and Investment,” Journal of Financial Economics, vol. 81, pp. 503–537, 2006. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2005.07.008.

“Does Bank Competition Affect How Much Firms Can Borrow? New Evidence from the U.S.,” in Proceedings of the 39th Annual Conference on Bank Structure and Competition, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, pp. 121–136, 2003.

Working Papers

“Motivating Banks to Lend? Credit Spillover Effects of the Main Street Lending Program,” with Camelia Minoiu and Andrei Zlate, 2024.
“Pay, Employment and Dynamics of Young Firms,” with Tania Babina, Wenting Ma, Christian Moser and Paige Ouimet, 2019.
“Are the Borrowing Costs of Large Financial Firms Unusual?” with Javed Ahmed and Christopher Anderson, 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.17016/FEDS.2015.024.
“Tax Function Convexity, Risk-Taking and Organizational Form Choice,” 2003.
“Mutual Fund Portfolio Turnover and the Effective Tax Burden on Taxable Investors,” with D. Bergstresser and J. Poterba, 2003.

Other Works

“Unpacking the Effects of Bank Credit Supply Shocks on Economic Activity,” with Michele Cavallo and Juan Morelli, FEDS Note, 2024. https://doi.org/10.17016/2380-7172.3517.
“Measuring Bank Credit Supply Shocks Using the Senior Loan Officer Survey,” with Michele Cavallo, Juan Morelli and Solveig Baylor, FEDS Note, 2024. https://doi.org/10.17016/2380-7172.3516.
“Considerations Regarding the Use of the Discount Window to Support Economic Activity through a Funding for Lending Program,” with Mark Carlson, Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2022-070, 2022. https://doi.org/10.17016/FEDS.2022.070.
“Understanding Bank Deposit Growth during the COVID-19 Pandemic,”, with Andrew Castro and Michele Cavallo, FEDS Note 2022-06-03, 2022. https://doi.org/10.17016/2380-7172.3133.
“Issues Regarding the Use of the Policy Rate Tool,”, with Jeffrey Campbell, Thomas B. King and Anna Orlik, Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2020-070, 2020. https://doi.org/10.17016/FEDS.2020.070.
“An Aggregate View of Bank Lending Standards and Demand,”, with David Glancy and Robert Kurtzman, FEDS Notes 2020-05-04, 2020. https://doi.org/10.17016/2380-7172.2546.
“Interest on Excess Reserves and U.S. Commercial Bank Lending,”, with Marcelo Rezende and Judit Temesvary, FEDS Notes 2019-10-18, 2019. https://doi.org/10.17016/2380-7172.2453.
“Changes in Monetary Policy and Banks' Net Interest Margins: A Comparison across Four Tightening Episodes,”, with Jared Berry, Robert Kurtzman and Felicia Ionescu, FEDS Notes 2019-04-19, 2019. https://doi.org/10.17016/2380-7172.2352.
“Business Investor Activity in the Single-Family-Housing Market,”, with Raven Molloy, FEDS Notes 2013-12-05, 2013. https://doi.org/10.17016/2380-7172.0005.
“Lifecycle Dynamics of Venture-Capital-Financed Firms,”, with Manju Puri, VOX CEPR Policy Portal Column, September 19, 2008.
“Book Review of Grande Expectations: A Year in the Life of Starbucks' Stock,”, Duke Magazine, vol. 94, no. 3, 2008.