Stigler Center-CEPR Political Economy of Finance Conference 2024: Corporate Democracy

November 8-9, 2024

Gleacher Center - Chicago
  • November 08, 2024

About the Conference

One of the goals of the 1934 Security and Exchange Act was to promote shareholder democracy through the proxy ballot. Ninety years later, this goal is far from being achieved. The rise of index funds has concentrated an enormous amount of voting power in just a few hands. Is corporate democracy desirable? What are its costs and benefits? Is it feasible in the face of the enormous concentration of voting power and the rational apathy of voters? What can we learn from political democracy? Is corporate democracy a form of plutocracy? The conference invites papers on all these themes.     

The conference keynote will be delivered by Nobel Laureate Oliver Hart (Harvard University.)

This conference results from the merger of the conferences on Political Economy of Finance previously organized by PolEconFin and the Stigler Center, respectively. This revamped conference series will be held annually and will alternate between Europe and the United States.

The event, jointly hosted by the Stigler Center and The Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), aims to bring together researchers active at the intersections between Economics, Finance, Political Science, and Law.

This conference is in-person and by invitation-only.

Call for Papers

Papers on topics related to corporate democracy were accepted for consideration through June 30.

Agenda

Tentative and subject to change

November 8, 2024
1:30 p.m. - 1:35 p.m. CT Welcome Remarks | Luigi Zingales, University of Chicago
1:35 p.m. - 2:25 p.m. CT Consuming Values (with Levi Boxell)
Jacob Conway, University of Chicago
Discussant: Efraim Benmelech, Northwestern University
2:25 p.m. - 2:35 p.m. CT Break
2:35 p.m. - 3:25 p.m. CT How Anti-ESG Pressure Affects Investment: Evidence from Retirement Savings
Jane Danyu Zhang, University of Oregon
Discussant: Nandini Gupta, Indiana University
3:25 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. CT Break
3:30 p.m. - 4:20 p.m. CT Divestment and Engagement: The Effect of Green Investors on Corporate Carbon Emissions (with Matthew Kahn and John Matsusaka)
Chong Shu, University of Utah
Discussant: Lubos Pastor, University of Chicago
4:20 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. CT Break
4:30 p.m. - 5:20 p.m. CT Minority Representation at Work (with Wei Cai, Anthony Le, and Felix Vetter)
Matthias Breuer, Columbia University
Discussant: Kilian Huber, University of Chicago
5:20 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. CT Break
5:30 p.m. - 6:20 p.m. CT The Politicization of Social Responsibility (with Todd Gormley and Meng Wang)
Manish Jha, Georgia State University
Discussant: Nadya Malenko, Boston College
6:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. CT Reception
7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. CT Dinner Keynote | Shareholder Democracy: Why and How
Oliver Hart, Nobel Laureate, Harvard University

November 9, 2024
8:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. CT Breakfast
9:00 a.m. - 9:50 a.m. CT Voting on Public Goods: Citizens vs. Shareholders (with Doron Levit, Nadya Malenko, and Magdalena Rola-Janicka)
Robin Döttling, Erasmus University Rotterdam
Discussant: Nicola Persico, Northwestern University
9:50 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. CT Break
10:00 a.m. - 10:50 a.m. CT Expanding Shareholder Voice: The Impact of SEC Guidance on Environmental and Social Proposals (with Kenneth Khoo)
Roberto Tallarita, Harvard University
Discussant: Elizabeth Pollman, University of Pennsylvania
10:50 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. CT Break
11:00 a.m. - 11:50 a.m. CT How Well Do Voting Choice Policies Represent Public and Investor Preferences? (with Zachary Peskowitz and Suhas Sridharan)
B. Pablo Montagnes, Emory University
Discussant: Elisabeth Kempf, Harvard University
11:50 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. CT Break
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. CT Lunch | Reclaiming Corporate Democracy
Sarah Haan, Washington and Lee University
Discussant: Hélène Landemore, Yale University
1:00 p.m. - 1:10 p.m. CT Break
1:10 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. CT Corporate Actions as Moral Issues (with Zwetelina Iliewa and Elisabeth Kempf)
Oliver Spalt, University of Mannheim
Discussant: David Thesmar, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2:00 p.m. Closing Remarks | Conference Adjourns

 

Conference Organizers

  • Thomas Lambert, Associate Professor of Finance, Erasmus University
  • Magdalena Rola-Janicka, Assistant Professor of Finance, Imperial College London; CEPR
  • Luigi Zingales, Robert C. McCormack Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance, University of Chicago; CEPR

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    Program Committee

  • Efraim Benmelech, Northwestern University
  • Emanuele Colonnelli, University of Chicago
  • Mara Faccio, Purdue University
  • Elisabeth Kempf, Harvard University
  • Hélène Landemore, Yale University
  • John Matsusaka, University of Southern California
  • Enrico Perotti, University of Amsterdam
  • Elizabeth Pollman, University of Pennsylvania
  • Karthik Ramanna, University of Oxford
  • Paola Sapienza, Northwestern University
  • Amit Seru, Stanford University
  • Paolo Volpin, Drexel University

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    Conference Venue:

    Gleacher Center
    450 Cityfront Plaza Dr, Chicago, IL 60611

    For more information, contact:

    Rachel Piontek, Director, Stigler Center
    rachel.piontek@chicagobooth.edu