Gilles is a Professor of Finance at Imperial College Business School and Co-director of Imperial's Centre for Financial Technology and a visiting scholar at Harvard University in the Spring 2026. He is also a research fellow at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, a research fellow at Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), a senior research fellow at the Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis (RCEA), and a member of the American Finance Association, American Economic Association, Western Finance Association, and European Finance Association. He currently serves as an Associate Editor at the Journal of Empirical Finance.

Gilles holds a PhD in economics from the London School of Economics, an MSc in economics from the Paris School of Economics, and he is a graduate engineer from Ponts Paristech. Prior to joining Imperial, Gilles was an Assistant Professor of Finance at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia. He has also worked in corporate finance at BNP Paribas, as an independent consultant for a variety of corporate, financial, and governmental institutions and professional and international organisations, and he has served on a wide range of boards.

Gilles' research interests include digital assets, platform finance, data science and causal inference, entrepreneurial finance, private equity and venture capital, corporate finance, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, corporate risk management, energy markets, security design and securitization, debt markets, asset allocation, pension funds, financial regulation and policymaking. Gilles' research has been published in top academic journals, and has been presented at multiple institutions including Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Princeton, UCLA, Columbia, NYU, Minnesota, LBS, LSE, Oxford, Cambridge, and Insead.

Gilles coauthored in 2026 Private equity in healthcare and life sciences. with Marc Kitten, founding partner of Candesic. This book offers a state-of-the-art coverage at private equity, including on valuation, sources of value creation, AI and tokenization, its essential role throughout the healthcare sector, and its implications on stakeholders and society.

 

Gilles' most recent articles, which can be found on https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=22734 , examine:

 

1.  Financial technology

 

Chemla, G., and K. Tinn, 2026, "Digital Ownership: The tokenization of real-world assets", Review of Finance, revised and resubmitted.

 

Chemla, G., W. Knottenbelt, Z. Li, X. Xiong, A. Delgado, A.-L. Burnett, "Mind the Gap: How Stablecoins can Secure the UK's Financial Future", https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5486386.

 

Chemla, G., and V. Tena, 2025, "AI adoption, incentives, and market outcomes", in progress.

 

Chemla, G., and M. Milone, 2025, "Does machine learning reduce financial constraints", in progress.

 

Chemla, G., and K. Tinn, 2021, "How wise are crowds on crowdfunding platforms?", Handbook of Technological Finance, Cambridge University Press, Raghu Rau, Robert Waldrop, Luigi Zingales (eds). https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3506377

 

Chemla, G., and K. Tinn, 2020, "Learning through Crowdfunding", Management Science, 66 (5), 1783-1801 (lead article). https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2796435

2. Causal inference in finance, economics, medicine and social sciences

Chemla, G., and C. Hennessy, 2025, "Discretionary Choice, Information Production, and the SUTVA", https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4409947.

 

Chemla, G., and C. Hennessy, 2022, "Signaling, Instrumentation, and CFO Decision-Making", Journal of Financial Economics, 144, 3, 849-863. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3540327

 

Chemla, G., and C. Hennessy, 2021, "Equilibrium Counterfactuals", International Economic Review, 62, 2, 639-669. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3424130

 

Chemla, G., and C. Hennessy, 2020, "Rational Expectations and the Paradox of Policy-Relevant Experiments", Journal of Monetary Economics, 114, 168-181. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2673825

 

Chemla, G., and C. Hennessy, 2019, "Controls, Belief Updating, and Bias in Medical RCTs", Journal of Economic Theory, 184, 104929. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2800265

3. Corporate governance and policy

 

Chemla, G., and K. Tinn, 2026, "Digital Ownership: The tokenization of real-world assets", Review of Finance, revised and resubmitted.

 

Chemla, G., W. Knottenbelt, Z. Li, X. Xiong, A. Delgado, A.-L. Burnett, "Mind the Gap: How Stablecoins can Secure the UK's Financial Future", https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5486386.

 

Chemla, G., A. Rivera, and L. Shi, 2025, "Too Much, Too Soon, For Too Long: The Dynamics of Competitive Executive Compensation", Journal of Finance. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3862731

 

Atanasova, C., and G. Chemla, 2024, "Familiarity Breeds Alternative Investment: Evidence from Corporate Defined-Benefit Pension Plans", Review of Finance, third round. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2468290

 

Chemla, G., and C. Hennessy, 2016, "Government as Borrower of First Resort", Journal of Monetary Economics. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1687003

 

Chemla, G., and C. Hennessy, 2014, "Skin in the Game and Moral Hazard", Journal of Finance. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1911922

 

Aid, R., G. Chemla, A. Porchet, and N. Touzi, 2011, "Hedging and Vertical Integration in Electricity Markets", Management Science. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1342874

 

Bettignies, J.-E., and G. Chemla, 2008, "Corporate Venturing, Allocation of Talent, and Competition for Star Managers", Management Science. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=459427

 

Chemla, G., M. Habib, and A. Ljungqvist, 2007, "An Analysis of Shareholder Agreements", Journal of the European Economic Association. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1295756

 

Chemla G., 2005, “Hold-Up, Stakeholders, and Takeover Threats”, Journal of Financial 
          Intermediation, 14(3), 376-97.

 

Chemla G., 2004, “Takeover Threats and the Dynamics of Information Flows”, International Journal of Industrial Organization, 22 (4), 575-90.

 

Chemla G., 2004, "Pension Fund Investment in Private Equity and Venture Capital: Canada vs the US", Journal of Private Equity, 1-8 (lead article). https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=556421.

 

Chemla G., 2003, “Downstream Competition, Foreclosure and Vertical Integration,” Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 12, 2, 261-289.

 

Chemla, G. and A. Faure-Grimaud, 2001, “Dynamic Adverse Selection and Debt,” European Economic Review, 45, 1773-92.

 

Chemla G., 2000, “Financial Analysis and Corporate Strategy”, Review of Financial Studies, vol. 13, no. 1, 249-53. 

 

 

4. Private equity, venture capital, and entrepreneurial finance.

 

Chemla, G., and K. Tinn, 2026, "Digital Ownership: The tokenization of real-world assets", Review of Finance, revised and resubmitted.

 

Chemla, G., and K. Tinn, 2021, "How wise are crowds on crowdfunding platforms?", Handbook of Technological Finance, Cambridge University Press, Raghu Rau, Robert Waldrop, Luigi Zingales (eds). https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3506377

 

Chemla, G., and K. Tinn, 2020, "Learning through Crowdfunding", Management Science, 66 (5), 1783-1801 (lead article). https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2796435

 

Bettignies, J.-E., and G. Chemla, 2008, "Corporate Venturing, Allocation of Talent, and Competition for Star Managers", Management Science. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=459427

 

Chemla, G., M. Habib, and A. Ljungqvist, 2007, "An Analysis of Shareholder Agreements", Journal of the European Economic Association. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1295756

 

Chemla G., 2004, "Pension Fund Investment in Private Equity and Venture Capital: Canada vs the US", Journal of Private Equity, 1-8 (lead article). https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=556421.

 

 

Gilles has had several non-executive director roles, and he has interacted with a large number of corporations, financial institutions, regulators, policy-makers, and international organizatons. He is also an accomplished teacher who has lectured a wide variety of degree and executive education courses and obtained several teaching prizes.