Private Equity

Private Equity Research Consortium (PERC) is an assemblage of academic researchers and industry professionals dedicated to advancing research on private equity and credit. Our core mission is to develop a better understanding of how private capital investments affect both financial results and broader economic outcomes.

PERC, organized through IPC, was established in 2012 by scholars from the business schools at the University of Chicago, Duke University, UNC-Chapel Hill, University of Oxford, and the University of Virginia as well as other institutions who recognized challenges facing empirical research on private equity. PERC supports academic studies by researchers all over the world by facilitating access to data for scholars. For example, PERC has an exclusive arrangement with Burgiss to provide access to data for academic research. The Burgiss dataset includes 12,700 funds, 10 trillion in assets. It is sourced directly from limited partners and contains full performance histories of cash flows at the fund level. The Burgiss dataset represents the largest and most in-depth dataset of its kind on venture, buyout, and real estate funds available for academic research.

PERC periodically accepts applications from academic researchers for access to Burgiss private equity fund data.

Latest Private Equity Research

Unpacking Private Equity Performance

September 26, 2023

White Paper

Performance analysis of private equity funds is challenging because fund ownership does not trade in a liquid market with observable prices. Instead performance analysis, especially during a funds life, must rely on observed cash flows to and from the fund and quarterly net asset value (NAV) estimates. Further complicating the analysis are the increasingly common practices of funds using subscription lines of credit (fund-level debt) and recycling capital. More

ESG for Institutional Portfolios

March 30, 2023

White Paper

This white paper examines Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) issues in the context of institutional portfolios that include alternative investments, such as private equity, hedge funds, and real assets. The goal of the paper is to provide a framework for understanding issues related to ESG investing through an objective lens grounded in theoretical and empirical economic analysis. More

The Unicorn Puzzle

February 13, 2023

From 2010 to 2021, 639 US VC-funded firms achieved unicorn status. We investigate why there are so many unicorns and why founders grant investors privileges to obtain unicorn status. More

Advisory Board

Greg Brown

Research Director, IPC; Professor of Finance, Sarah Graham Kenan Distinguished Scholar, University of North Carolina, Kenan-Flagler Business School

Keith Crouch

Director, Product Management, Burgiss

Robert S. Harris

PERC Director, C. Stewart Sheppard Professor of Business Administration, University of Virginia, Darden School

Yael Hochberg

Ralph S. O'Connor Professor in Entrepreneurship (Finance); Head, Rice University Entrepreneurship Initiative

Tim Jenkinson

Professor of Finance, Oxford University, Said Business School

Steven Kaplan

Neubauer Family Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance, University of Chicago, Booth School of Business

David Robinson

Professor of Finance and J. Rex Fuqua Distinguished Professor of International Management, Duke University, Fuqua School of Business

Reiner Braun

Chair, Entrepreneurial Finance 2, Technische Universität München

Nick Crain

Senior Lecturer, University of Melbourne, Faculty of Business and Economics

Michael Ewens

Assoc. Professor of Finance and Entrepreneurship, California Institute of Technology

Will Gornall

Assistant Professor of Finance, University of British Columbiam, Sauder School of Business

Oleg Gredil

Assistant Professor of Finance, Tulane University, A. B. Freeman School of Business

Sabrina Howell

Associate Professor of Finance, New York University Stern School of Business

Victoria Ivashina

Lovett-Learned Chaired Professor of Finance, Harvard Business School

Arthur Korteweg

Dean's Associate Professor in Business Administration, Associate Professor of Finance and Business Economics, University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business

Josh Lerner

Schiff Professor of Investment Banking, Harvard Business School

Stefan Morkoetter

Professor of Finance, University of St.Gallen

Adair Morse

Associate Professor of Finance, UC Berkeley Haas School of Business

Ludovic Phalippou

Associate Professor of Finance, University of Oxford, Saïd Business School

Antoinette Schoar

Koerner Professor of Finance, MIT Sloan School of Management

Berk Sensoy

Hans Stoll Professor of Finance, Vanderbilt University, Owen Graduate School of Management

Morten Sorensen

Head of Finance Department, Copenhagen Business School; Adjunct Associate Professor of Business, Columbia Business School

Ilya Strebulaev

The David S. Lobel Professor of Private Equity; Professor of Finance; Director, Stanford Venture Capital Initiative, Graduate School of Stanford Business

Per Stromberg

SSE Centennial Professor of Finance and Private Equity, Stockholm School of Economics; Adjunct Professor of Finance, Booth Business School, University of Chicago

Michael Weisbach

Ralph W. Kurtz Chair in Finance, Ohio State University, Fisher College of Business

Ayako Yasuda

Professor of Finance, UC Davis