Meet Wharton's Newest Faculty: Patrick Adams
Ask about Knowledge at Wharton
Episode Description
----- The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is committed to sharing its intellectual capital through Knowledge at Wharton, the school’s online business analysis journal.
Launched in 1999, Knowledge at Wharton offers free access to:
- Articles, podcasts, and videos highlighting Wharton faculty research and analysis of current business trends - Interviews with book authors from Wharton School Press - In-depth series of curated content like Wharton Executive Education’s Nano Tools for Leaders - A searchable database of more than 10,000 articles covering all aspects of business - A weekly newsletter that delivers Knowledge at Wharton insights directly to your inbox
Visit the Knowledge at Wharton homepage: https://whr.tn/3qUpSBE Subscribe to the Knowledge at Wharton YouTube channel: https://whr.tn/3DEAgAU
Brief Summary
Patrick Adams explains why market recoveries do not always restore individual investors’ wealth, and how that risk shapes his advice to Wharton students.
Key points
- From jazz musician to finance professor. Patrick Adams introduces himself as Wharton’s newest assistant professor of finance—and reveals that his original career plan was to become a professional jazz musician.
- When the market recovers, investors may not. Adams’s research finds that many high-income investors lose a large share of their income when the stock market crashes. Even if the market rebounds, their personal wealth may not.
- The personal risks behind dynamic careers. Finance, technology, and entrepreneurship can contribute to the economy while exposing workers to significant personal risk when the economy is doing poorly.
Episode highlights
- When the market recovers, investors may notAdams’s research finds that many high-income investors lose a large share of their income when the stock market crashes. Even if the market rebounds, their personal wealth may not.“Many individual investors' own personal wealth does not.”0:29Nov 2, 2026
- The personal risks behind dynamic careersFinance, technology, and entrepreneurship can contribute to the economy while exposing workers to significant personal risk when the economy is doing poorly.0:48Nov 2, 2026
Transcript
One fun fact about me is that my original career plan was to be a professional jazz musician. Hi, my name is Patrick Adams. I'm an assistant professor of finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. I'm originally from a small town called Wethersfield, Connecticut, just outside of Hartford. And I did my undergraduate studies at the University of Connecticut, so I'm a huge college basketball fan. My research uses large-scale data to understand the economic risks that households face and how this affects their financial decisions. One surprising finding from this work is that when the stock market crashes, many high-income investors
actually lose a large share of that income. >> [music] >> So, even though the overall stock market tends to recover, many individual investors' own personal wealth does not. So, my research shows up in the personal investment advice that I would give to our students. Many of them are graduating and going on to work in dynamic industries such as finance and technology or even starting their own businesses. Now, these jobs all contribute a lot to the economy, but also involve taking on a lot of personal risk when the economy is doing poorly. So, one of the fantastic things about being at Wharton is it's a massive finance department filled with leading
researchers in the field. And already in my first month here, I've learned so much from my colleagues [music] that has helped me with my own research.
