Welcome
Hello! My name is Zirui Song. I am a third-year PhD student at MIT Sloan. Previously I worked at Chicago Booth after graduating from the University of Chicago with degrees in Mathematics, Economics (Honors), and Statistics.
My research interests are Banking, Debt Contracting, and Corporate Finance.
Working Papers
"Reshuffling of Human Capital in Financial Intermediation"
"Firms' Leverage Targets"
Presented at: MIT Finance Lunch
"Tax Policy and Syndicated Loan Contracting"
Presented at: 15th EIASM Conference on the Current Research in Taxation, Emerging Scholars in Accounting Conference at Boston University 2025*, IESE Tax Conference 2025, MIT PhD Student Brown Bag, NYU Big Apple Conference 2025*, University of Toronto*, University of Utah*, University of Florida*
Work in Progress
"When Expertise Matters: Loan Officer Industry Specialization, Loan Pricing, and Contract Design"
Presented at: MIT
"Information Covenants in Nonbanking Direct Lending"
Presented at: MIT (2x)
* presented by coauthor
Other Work
"Why Stock Buybacks Increase Financial Stability in Banking"
Teaching
MIT Sloan, Spring 2026 — Professor Nemit Shroff
MIT Sloan, Summer 2025 — Professor S.P. Kothari
MIT Sloan, Summer 2024 — Professor S.P. Kothari