Political Economy of Finance 2018

  • May 17, 2018

May 17–18, 2018
Chicago Booth Harper Center, 5807 S Woodlawn Ave, Room C25

About the Conference

In the last twenty years political considerations have become important in financial economics: from the design of the rules that make financial markets viable to politically-motivated changes in bankruptcy law, from political connections in firms to the effects of political uncertainty on investments, politics is playing a greater role in finance research. Yet, this is the only conference dedicated to this topic. For this reason the Stigler Center at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business is hosting the second conference on the Political Economy of Finance.

The conference venue is the Chicago Booth Harper Center - Room C25, located in Hyde Park Chicago at 5807 S Woodlawn Ave.

Program

Thursday, May 17

1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. Geopolitics and International Bank Flows (with Kun Li)
Phong T. H. Ngo, Australian National University
Discussant: John Matsusaka, University of Southern California
2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. China’s Anti-Corruption Campaign and Credit Reallocation from SOEs to Non-SOEs (with Hao Zhouand Zhengwei Wang)
Bo Li, Tsinghua University
Discussant: Jacopo Ponticelli,Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management
3:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Break
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Pushing Boundaries: Political Redistricting and Consumer Credit (with Christine Dobridge, Rawley Heimer, and Stefan Lewellen)
Pat Akey, University of Toronto
Discussant: Brian Richter, University of Texas - Austin McCombs School of Business; University of Chicago Booth School of Business
5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Strong Employers and Weak Employees: How Does Employer Concentration Affect Wages? (with Nittai Bergman and Hyunseob Kim)
Efraim Benmelech, Northwestern UniversityKellogg School of Management
Discussant: Martin Schmalz, University of Michigan Ross School of Business
6:00 p.m. Cocktail Reception(Harper 104)
6:30 p.m. Dinner (Harper 104)
Keynote Address
Sir Paul Tucker,Chair, Systemic Risk Council and Former Deputy Governor, Bank of England

Friday, May 18

8:00 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. Breakfast
8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. Political Cycles and Stock Returns(with Lubos Pastor)
Pietro Veronesi, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Discussant:Ian Dew-Becker,Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management
9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. Credit, Labor, and Political Unrest: Evidence from 1930s China(with Fabio Braggion and Haikun Zhu)
Alberto Manconi, Bocconi University
Discussant: Kris Mitchener,Santa Clara University Leavey School of Business
10:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Break
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Political Networks and Firm Values in South Korea
Francis D. Kim, Indian School of Business & EHESS
Discussant:Johan Chu, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Depositors Disciplining Banks: The Impact of Scandals
Mikael Homanen, City University of LondonCass Business School
Discussant: Randall Kroszner, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Winning Connections? Special Interests and the Sale of Failed Banks (with Deniz Igan, Wolf Wagner, and Quxian Zhang)
Thomas Lambert,Erasmus University Rotterdam School of Management
Discussant: Amit Seru, Stanford University Graduate School of Business
3:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Break
3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Tax-Exempt Lobbying: Corporate Philanthropy as a Tool for Political Influence(with Matilde Bombardini, Raymond J. Fisman, and Francesco Trebbi)
Marianne Bertrand, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Discussant: Gregor Matvos, University of Texas - Austin McCombs School of Business
4:30 p.m. Conference Ends

Logistics

The conference venue is the Chicago Booth Harper Center - Room C25, located in Hyde Park Chicago at 5807 S Woodlawn Ave. There are a number of hotels with special University of Chicago rates, details below. Ask for the University of Chicago rate when making your booking (pending availability).

Hyatt Place Chicago-South/University Medical Center – Closest to the conference venue.
5225 S. Harper Avenue, Chicago, IL 60615 
773.752.5300

LondonHouse Chicago
85 East Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 60601 
312.357.1200

InterContinental Chicago
505 N. Michigan Avenue Chicago, IL 60611
800.628.2112

Club Quarters Wacker at Michigan
75 E. Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 60601
312.357.6400; Reservations: 203.905.2100

Omni Chicago 
676 N. Michigan Avenue Chicago, IL 60611
312.944.6664

Conference Organizers

  • Luigi Zingales, Robert C. McCormack Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
  • Paola Sapienza, Donald C. Clark/HSBC Chair in Consumer Finance & Professor of Finance, Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management 

Program Committee

  • Pat Akey
  • Efraim Benmelech
  • Viktar Fedaseyeu
  • Raymond Fisman
  • Stefan Lewellen
  • Todd Mitton
  • Brian Richter
  • Paola Sapienza
  • Francesco Trebbi
  • Boris Vallee
  • Vikrant Vig
  • Paolo Volpin
  • Yupana Wiwattanakantang
  • Luigi Zingales

For more information, contact:

Sebastian Burca, Associate Director, Stigler Center
773.834.2054
sebastian.burca@chicagobooth.edu

Disclaimer: Students should never miss class to attend optional programming. The Deans’ Office will not support requests for absences due to participation on a trek, event, conference, or trip as excused.