“A tidal wave of bankruptcies is coming.” That was the blaring headline from The New York Times in June of 2020. And it only stood to reason – with businesses shuddered and office parks looking like modern ghost towns, it seemed inevitable that bankruptcies across the country were headed for a steep spike. Surprisingly, however, it was actually the opposite that happened, according to Jialan Wang (left), assistant professor of finance at Gies College of Business. The surprising findings in her paper “Bankruptcy and the COVID-19 Crisis,” coauthored by Gies PhD student Jeyul Yang (below right), Benjamin Charles Iverson (Brigham Young University), and University of Illinois master’s alumnus Renhao Jiang (UC Santa Cruz), have intrigued economists across the country.