2025 Program

11:30-12:30 p.m.

Lunch and pick up conference materials (West Village H 108-110)

12:30-12:40 p.m.

Opening remarks: Nicole Boyson (Finance Group Chair) & David De Cremer (Dunton Family Dean)

Session 1

Session Chair: Andrés Shahidinejad

12:45-1:25 p.m.

“The Impact of Finfluencers on Retail Investment”
Authors: Isiah Hull (Norwegian Business School); Yingjie Qi (Copenhagen Business School)
Discussant: Christopher Palmer (MIT)

1:25-2:05 p.m.

“Tyranny of the Personal Network: The Limits of Arm's Length Fundraising in Venture Capital”
Authors: Sabrina T. Howell, Dean Parker (NYU); Ting Xu (Univ. of Toronto)
Discussant: Morten Sorensen (Dartmouth)

2:05-2:45 p.m.

Coffee break

Session 2

Session Chair: Fabricius Somogyi

2:45-3:25 p.m.

“Private Capital Markets and Inequality”
Authors: Ararat Gocmen (University College London); Clara Martínez-Toledano (Imperial College London); Vrinda Mittal (UNC- Chapel Hill)
Discussant: Olivia Kim (HBS)

3:25-4:05 p.m.

“What Do Unions Do? Incentives and Investments”
Authors: Vojislav Maksimovic, Liu Yang (Univ. of Maryland)
Discussant: Hyunseob Kim (FRB – Chicago)

4:05-4:45 p.m.

Coffee break

4:45-5:25 p.m.

“The Real Cost of Benchmarking”
Authors: Sebastian Hanson, Christian Kontz (Stanford)
Discussant: Samuel Hartzmark (Boston College)

5:30-8:30 p.m.

Dinner reception at the Faculty Club (EXP)

8:00-8:35 a.m.

Breakfast at the Alumni Center (Sixth Floor, 716 Columbus Ave.)

Session 3

Session Chair: Weiling Liu

8:45-9:25 a.m.

“National Pricing and the Geography of U.S. Life Insurers”
Authors: Derek Wenning (Indiana Univ.)
Discussant: Daniel Weagley (Univ. of Tennessee)

9:25-10:05 a.m.

“Divided Government and the Stock Market”
Authors: Theofanis Papamichalis (Univ. of Cambridge); Dean Ryu (Harvard, Oxford); Mungo Wilson (Oxford Univ.)
Discussant: Alok Kumar (Univ. of Miami)

10:05-10:20 a.m.

Coffee break

10:20-11:00 a.m.

“Measuring and Mitigating Racial Disparities in Large Language Model Mortgage Underwriting”
Authors: Donald E. Bowen III (Lehigh University); Luke C.D. Stein (Babson College); S. McKay Price, Ke Yang (Lehigh University)
Discussant: James Weston (Rice Univ.)

11:00-11:05 p.m.

Closing remarks and adjourn for lunch

11:05-12:00 p.m.

Lunch at the Alumni Center (Sixth Floor, 716 Columbus Ave.)