Paul H. Beaumont

CV and Bio

Welcome to my website! I am an Assistant Professor of Finance at McGill University (Desautels Faculty of Management).

Research interests: Corporate Finance, Entrepreneurship, Labor and Finance, FinTech.

My CV is available here: CV.

Contact

Email: paul.beaumont@mcgill.ca

Publications

Build or Buy? Human Capital and Corporate Diversification

with Camille Hebert (University of Toronto) and Victor Lyonnet (Michigan Ross)

Review of Financial Studies (2025)

Abstract: Firms either enter new sectors by building on their resources or buying existing companies. Using French administrative data, we propose a measure of human capital distance between a firm and a sector of entry. Using a shift-share instrument, we show that firms build in close sectors and buy in distant sectors in terms of human capital distance. Firms build by hiring new workers, which becomes increasingly costly in distant sectors as it requires not only hiring more workers but also having more organizational capital to integrate these workers. Hence, firms buy in distant sectors to acquire already operational human capital.

Press coverage: Rotman Insights Hub

Collateral Effects: The Role of FinTech in Small Business Lending

with Huan Tang (Wharton) and Eric Vansteenberghe (PSE)

Review of Financial Studies (2025)

Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of introducing junior unsecured loans (i.e., FinTech loans) in the small business lending market. Using French administrative data, we find that firms experience a 13% increase in bank credit after receiving a FinTech loan. We use propensity score matching procedures and a shift-share instrument to account for credit demand. The credit increase only occurs when FinTech borrowers invest in new assets, and Fintech borrowers are subsequently more likely to pledge collateral to banks. This suggests that firms use FinTech loans to acquire assets that they then pledge to banks, thereby increasing total borrowing capacity.

Press coverage: Delve (podcast), Knowledge at Wharton

Working Papers

Making Your Own Rules: Contractual Flexibility and Entrepreneurial Success

with Johan Hombert (HEC Paris) and Adrien Matray (Atlanta Fed) - (July 2026)

R&R at the Journal of Finance

Abstract: Can reducing contracting costs between entrepreneurs and investors improve entrepreneurial success? We assemble a novel dataset of company bylaws covering the near-universe of firms incorporated in France between 2004 and 2012. We show that many new firms, including non-VC-backed firms, tailor their bylaws by modifying default provisions on ownership and control rights, while cash-flow rights are less frequently customized. Such tailoring correlates with proxies for asymmetric information and entrepreneur sophistication. Exploiting a 2008 French reform that lowered the cost of bylaws customization, we show that increased contractual flexibility led to higher equity financing at creation and to persistent increases in investment, employment, and revenue growth.

Selected presentations: ASU Sonoran, WEFI, UIC Conference, WFA, EFA, NFA, FOM, WashU Conference, Paris Finance December Meetings, Milan JCF Conference, The Law and Finance of PE and VC Conference.

Replication package

Customer Capital in Times of Crisis

with Clémence Lenoir (DG Trésor) - (July 2026)

R&R at the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis

Abstract: How do recessions impact firms' customer relationships? Using a French trade credit reform for identification, we find that, following the 2008--9 global trade collapse, financially constrained firms export less years after the recession because they are less likely to regain customers lost during the collapse. Sales to returning customers are as sensitive to financial constraints as sales to first-time customers, suggesting that trade interruptions cause firms' customer capital to depreciate. We find weaker effects for firms with stronger relationships, consistent with the idea that firms recover more easily from recessions when they need to reinvest less in customer capital.

Selected presentations: GEP/CEPR, EFA, FIRS, NFA (Best Ph.D. Paper), SFS Cavalcade.

Press coverage: VoxFi

Relationship Finance in Bond Markets?

with David Schumacher (McGill) and Gregory Weitzner (McGill) - (October 2026)

Abstract: We use callable bonds to test for reputation-based relationship lending in bond markets. After a fixed-price call, which forces bondholders to sell their bonds at a low price, existing bondholders are less likely to participate in the firm's future bond issuances. This behavior, which resembles punishment in reputation models, is stronger for funds managed by large families and, consistent with bilateral relationships, is specifically driven by holders of the called bond. In turn, firms are less likely to call bonds held by large-family funds. Our results provide evidence of relationship lending in bond markets sustained through firm reputation.

Press coverage: FinReg blog

Selected presentations: U Dauphine, Banque de France, U Laval, U York, Rome Junior Finance Conference, Aarhus Workshop, NFA, FIFI, MFA.

Scope for Change? Product Scope in Small Business Lending Relationships

with Mathias Lé (Banque de France) - (June 2026)

Abstract: FinTech lenders typically offer fewer credit products than traditional banks. Does broader product scope give banks a competitive advantage, and if so, why? Exploiting the 2016 acquisition of two specialized lenders by a diversified French bank, we show that an existing product relationship increases the likelihood of obtaining additional products from the same bank, but only when that relationship generates information about borrowers. Differences in merger integration and cross-selling cannot explain this pattern. Our results suggest that broad product scope gives banks a competitive advantage by helping them screen borrowers, not by offering borrowers greater convenience.

Selected presentations: HEC-McGill Winter Seminar, ESCP- Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne Workshop, PSB Workshop on Banks and Financial Markets, Liverpool MDMP, EFI Workshop, Telfer Corporate Finance and Banking conference, EFA.

Zooming In, Zooming Out: Reconciling Treatment Effects across Aggregation Levels

with Adrien Matray (Atlanta Fed), Yachi Tu (Berkeley), and Chenzi Xu (Berkeley) - (October 2026)

Abstract: Are treatment effects estimated at different aggregation levels (e.g., firm-market, firm, and industry) comparable? We show that implicit weights, Jensen's inequality, and entry and exit can generate mechanical differences in estimands. Using simulations, we characterize the conditions under which these differences become meaningful and find that these conditions are met in eight widely used datasets. We develop methods to restore comparability: midpoint growth with midpoint weights and Poisson deliver disaggregation invariance, while standard growth with lagged weights delivers aggregation invariance. A fiscal-multiplier application inspired by Nakamura and Steinsson (2014) illustrates how our methods help distinguish confounding shocks, spillovers, and extensive-margin changes at little additional cost, and how more standard methods yield large biases.

Selected presentations: UC Berkeley, Atlanta Fed, Cleveland Fed, McGill.

Permanent Working Papers

Granular Borrowers

with Thibault Libert (ACPR/PSE) and Christophe Hurlin (Université d'Orléans).

Abstract: This paper uses a credit registry covering the quasi universe of firm-bank relationships in France for the period 1999-2016 to provide a detailed account of the role of very large borrowers ("granular borrowers") in shaping bank-level and aggregate credit variations. We document that the distribution of borrowers is fat-tailed, the top 100 borrowers representing 18% of aggregate long-term credit and 64% of total undrawn credit lines. We adapt the methodology of Amiti and Weinstein (2018) to identify the contributions of firm, bank, and aggregate shocks to credit variations at any level of aggregation. At the macroeconomic level, we show that aggregate properties of credit largely reflect granular borrowers’ shocks. This finding highlights the limitations of using time series of aggregate credit to assess the magnitude of financial frictions in the economy. At the bank-level, we find that the concentration of the borrower bases of banks exposes them to considerable borrower idiosyncratic risk and leads liquidity flows to be more synchronized across banks.

Other Writings

Prime à l'embauche dans les PME : évaluation à partir des déclarations d'embauche

with Antoine Luciani

Document de travail DESE, 2018

Prime à l’embauche dans les petites et moyennes entreprises : une première évaluation à partir des déclarations d’embauche

with Antoine Luciani and Ihssane Slimani Houti

Insee Analyses, 2016

Press coverage: Le Monde, Les Echos

Le financement de l’exportation pour les PME : se mettre à flot pour passer le cap ?

Insee Références, 2016

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