Pratish Patel

Pratish A. Patel is a professor of finance at the Orfalea College of Business, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. He trained first as a chemical engineer, then earned an M.S. in financial engineering and a Ph.D. in finance from UC Berkeley, and worked in valuation and financial advisory before joining the faculty in 2013.

A dedicated teacher, he has won multiple teaching awards, including Distinguished Teacher of the Year and the DeWerd Faculty Award for impact on student success. He has taken student teams to the Villanova Real Estate Challenge, where they have won the competition multiple times.

His research in finance spans asset pricing, portfolio risk, and the valuation of illiquid assets. He has written on how to measure risk-adjusted performance, on why options-based strategies earn the returns they do, and on how discounts for lack of marketability reflect systematic risk. He has also studied how contracts and financing work under constraints, from rent-to-own housing to the funding of public infrastructure.

His work centers on affordable housing. He is currently studying the economics of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, and he recently published Paper Promise: Why Good Intentions Are Strangling Section 8 Housing.