BPI | FUNDAÇÃO "LA CAIXA"
CHAIR PROFESSOR
in Responsible Finance
VICE-DEAN OF FACULTY AND RESEARCH
at Nova SBE
About
Miguel Ferreira is the BPI | Fundação “la Caixa” Chair Professor of Responsible Finance at Nova School of Business and Economics (Nova SBE). He is the Vice-Dean of Faculty and Research at Nova SBE, Director of the Nova Finance Knowledge Center, and Coordinator of the financial literacy program “Finance for All”. He is also a research associate of the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI), a research fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and research associate of the G53 Financial Literacy and Personal Finance Research Network. He has a PhD in Finance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a Master in Applied Economics from Nova SBE, and a Bachelor in Business from ISCTE-IUL.
​
His research interests include household finance, corporate finance, and sustainable finance. His research has been published in academic journals including the American Economic Review, Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, and Management Science. He is among the top 100 most prolific authors in the top three finance journals of all time in the world, and he is the most cited Portuguese economist since 2000. He has been a recipient of several research grants and awards, including the European Research Council (Starting and Advanced Grants), La Caixa Foundation Social Research Call, and Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia grant. He was the President of the European Finance Association.
​
He teaches corporate finance in the bachelor's program. He is also an independent board member at BPI Asset Management and a scientific advisor for economic studies at Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos. He has extensive experience in teaching in executive education programs and as an expert witness and consultant for companies, financial institutions, central banks, and government agencies.
Recent Work
with Diogo Mendes and André Silva, 2025
We study the effects of adult financial education using a large-scale randomized controlled trial linked to administrative credit register data. The intervention consists of a structured ten-hour personal finance course involving more than 10,000 people in Portugal. Six months after the program, treated individuals exhibit significant improvements in financial knowledge, especially among women, low-income and low-education individuals, and participants with low baseline financial literacy. The intervention also improves self-reported confidence, financial attitudes, and behaviors, including budgeting, saving, retirement planning, informed use of financial products, and financial market participation. Using loan-level administrative data, we find significant changes in debt management: treated individuals reduce reliance on high-cost credit card balances while preserving credit access, experience fewer delinquencies, and are more likely to renegotiate mortgages. Our results suggest that financial education can reduce financial literacy gaps and improve household balance sheet management, even within relatively affluent populations in high-income countries.
Media Highlights
03/06/2025
04/2025 - 07/2025
