On July 12th - 13th, the 11th Summer Institute of Finance (SIF) was successfully held. It was organized by the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) and the China Academy of Financial Research (CAFR) at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the SIF conference was held in a combined online and on-site format in Shanghai. During the conference, more than 60 scholars, professors, and researchers from top universities and financial institutions from around the world discussed cutting-edge topics in current financial research.
Professor Hong Yan (Professor of Finance, Deputy Dean for faculty and research at SAIF) chaired the SIF, and Professor Xiaoyun Yu (Professor of Finance at SAIF) was Chairwoman of the Paper Review Committee. Other SIF participants included: Professor Tan Wang (Professor of Finance at SAIF), Professor Kewei Hou (Special-Term Professor at SAIF; Ric Dillon Chair Professor in Investment at Ohio State University), Professor Huibing Zhang (Special-Term Professor at SAIF; Professor of Finance, University of Texas), Professor Sheridan Titman (Special-Term Professor at SAIF; McAllister Centennial Chair, University of Texas), Professor Andrew Winton (Special-Term Professor at SAIF; Finance Department Chair, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota).
This year's SIF received a large number of submissions, with a total of 778 valid academic papers from all over the world, of which 12 papers were finally selected by the Paper Review Committee. These 12 papers were presented in six academic sessions, focusing on themes of "Finance Distress", "Agency and Monitoring", "New Measures, New Insights", "Firms and Mobility", "Hedging", and "Fund".
During the conference, professors and Ph.D. students from various universities in China (and beyond) read or reviewed the papers, and 12 scholars shared their latest research findings at the conference. Their research issues included: 'Feedback and Contagion through Distressed Competition'; 'Gambling for Redemption or Rip-off, and the Impact of Superpriority'; 'Looking the Other Way: The Screening Role of (Weak) Internal Monitoring'; 'Morale, Performance, and Disclosure'; 'The Informativeness of Text, the Deep Learning Approach'; 'Concentration in Product Markets'; 'Assessing and Addressing the Coronavirus-induced Economic Crisis: Evidence from 1.5 Billion Sales Invoices'; 'The Talent Gap in Family Firms'; 'Operating Leverage and Hedging: A Tale of Two Production Costs for Asset Pricing'; 'Unmasking Mutual Fund Derivative Use'; 'The Proxy Advisory Industry: Influencing and Being Influenced'; and 'The Risk, Reward, and Asset Allocation of Nonprofit Endowment Funds'.
At the conference, each paper was reviewed by an individual scholar. They made pertinent suggestions and comments on research content, ideas, and methodologies. In addition, there was a Q&A session in which scholars and professors made comments and discussed issues with the paper presenters and reviewers. The open and professional academic atmosphere at SIF was an inspiration and proved beneficial for scholars hoping to optimize their current research.
