About
Finance Conference
The 2nd Annual Isenberg School of Management Finance Conference, University of Massachusetts is a gathering of finance professionals, industry experts, and scholars coming together to discuss the latest trends, challenges, and opportunities in the field of finance with a focus on empirical and theoretical work. This conference aims to provide a platform for knowledge sharing, networking, and fostering collaborations within the finance community.
Details & Registration
The conference will be held at the University of Massachusetts Amherst from April 23-24, 2026. For presenters and discussants, we will cover the cost of travel and up to one night’s accommodation at the Conference Hotel.
DATE & TIME
LOCATIONS
Registration
Sessions and Breaks
Campus Center, 1 Campus Center Way, Amherst, MA 01002
Room 163
Dinner (by Registration only)
Isenberg School of Management
121 Presidents Drive
Amherst, MA, 01003
Handicap Accessible & On Campus
April 23-24, 2026
Thursday, April 23, 2026
2:00 PM – 5:45 PM | Conference Sessions
6:30 PM – 8:30 PM | Conference Dinner
Friday, April 24, 2026
8:00 AM – 4:30 PM | Conference Sessions
Registrations are now open!
The conference is free for University-affiliated attendees and $250 for industry-affiliated attendees. Dinner on Thursday night is an additional $50 for anyone who wishes to attend. Please note, this program is appropriate for graduate level-students, faculty, or professionals.
The Hotel UMass is conveniently located on the Amherst campus and a number of rooms have been held at a special rate of $199 (for Thursday 4/23) and $209 (for Friday 4/24). Book your room here before March 26th to take advantage of these special rates (while rooms remain).
Conference Program Committee:
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Keynote Speaker:
Wenxin Du
Wenxin Du is a Professor of Finance and the Sylvan C. Coleman Professor of Financial Management at Harvard Business School. Her work focuses on global currency and fixed-income markets, central banking, and financial regulation. She is a Sloan Research Fellow and the 2022 recipient of the Award for Economics in Central Banking.
Previously, she held faculty positions at Columbia Business School and Chicago Booth, and served in research and economist roles at the Federal Reserve and the Bank for International Settlements. She is also a Research Associate at the NBER and serves on advisory committees for the BIS and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
Professor Du earned her Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University.
Fousseni Chabi-Yo
Organizer
Professor Fousseni Chabi-Yo is the Associate Dean of Research and PhD Programs; Chair, Finance Department; Co-Director Finance PhD Program; Berthiaume Endowed Professor in Business Administration; and Professor of Finance at the Isenberg School of Management, where he teaches courses in Investments, Corporate Risk Management, and a Ph.D.-level course. His research spans theoretical and empirical asset pricing and international finance, with a focus on investor preferences, beliefs, and their impact on financial markets, as well as the pricing of derivative instruments. Professor Chabi-Yo’s studies also delve into areas such as tail risk, tail dependence, expected Treasury bond returns, and options on Treasury bond futures and commodities.
His work has been widely recognized, presented at both academic and practitioner conferences, and published in top-tier finance journals, including the Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, Management Science, and Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, as well as in leading economic journals like the Journal of Economic Theory.
Before joining Isenberg, Professor Chabi-Yo was a faculty member at the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University and held a position at the Bank of Canada. He is fluent in English, French, and multiple African languages.
Associate Dean of Research and PhD Programs; Chair, Finance Department; Co-Director Finance PhD Program; Berthiaume Endowed Professor in Business Administration; Professor of Finance
Program Schedule
DAY 1 — Thursday, April 23
Welcome & Opening
1:45 – 2:00 PM
Welcome and Coffee
2:00 – 2:15 PM
Opening Remarks
Lisa Masteralexis, Senior Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs & Administration
Isenberg School of Management
Session 1: Macro-Finance: Information, Expectations, and Policy Transmission
2:15 – 3:45 PM
Session Chair: Hossein Kazemi
Financial Prediction Markets: A New Measure of Earnings ExpectationsRoberto Gomex-Cram (London Business School), Yunhan Guo (London Business School), Howard Kung (London Business School), Theis Ingerslev Jensen (Yale University)
Discussant: Chen Wang (University of Notre Dame)
When the Tide Goes Out: QE and Financial Structure
Matteo Leombroni (Boston College), Stelios Kotronis (European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority), Ciaran Rogers (HEC Paris), Phillippe Van Der Beck (Harvard Business School)
Discussant: Thomas Eisenbach (Federal Reserve Bank of New York)
Coffee Break
3:45 - 4:15 PM
Additional Welcoming Remarks
Anne Massey, Dean, Isenberg School of Management
Session 2: Financial Intermediation and Capital Allocation
4:15 – 5:45 PM
Session Chair: Mila Sherman
The Cyclicality of Direct Lending
Franz Hinzen (Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth), Giorgio Mondini (Frankfurt School of Finance & Management), Paul Rintamaki (Frankfurt School of Finance & Management), Sascha Steffen (Frankfurt School of Finance & Management)
Discussant: Jack Bao (University of Delaware)
Does Fund Size Affect Private Equity Performance? Evidence from Donations to Private Universities
Abhishek Bhardwaj (Tulane University), Abhinav Gupta (University of North Carolina), Sabrina Howell (New York University), Kyle E. Zimmerschied (University of Missouri)
Discussant: Hanyi (Livia) Yi (Boston College)
Walk to Dinner
5:45 - 6:00 PM
Dinner
6:30 - 8:30 PM
DAY 2 — Friday, April 24
Welcome & Opening
8:00 – 8:30 AM
Continental Breakfast
Session 3: Investor Beliefs and the Pricing of Risk Factors
8:30 – 10:00 AM
Session Chair: Bing Liang
Subjective Beliefs and the Portfolio Allocations of Institutional Investors
Aleksander Andonov (University of Amsterdam), Spencer Couts (University of Southern California), Andrei Goncalves (The Ohio State University), Johnathan Loudis (University of Notre Dame), Andrea Rossi (University of Arizona)
Discussant: Jiacui Li (University of Utah)
Factor Identity
Ran Shi (University of Colorado Boulder), Jiantao Huang (University of Hong Kong), Christian Julliard (London School of Economics)
Discussant: Rui Da (Indiana University)
Coffee Break
10:00-10:30 AM
Session 4: Asset Pricing: Risk Factors, Demand, and Expected Returns
10:30 – 12:00 PM
Session Chair: Marco Macchiavelli
Operating Leverage and Risk Premium
Leonid Kogan (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Jun Li (University of Texas Dallas), Harold H. Zhang (University of Texas Dallas), Yifan Zhu (BI Norwegian Business School)
Discussant: Yao Deng (University of Connecticut)
Demand Propagation Through Traded Risk Factors
Yu An (Johns Hopkins Carey), Amy Huber (Wharton)
Discussant: Carter Davis (The Ohio State University)
Lunch
12:00 - 1:00 PM
Keynote Speaker
1:00 – 2:00 PM
Keynote Speech
Session Chair: Fousseni Chabi-Yo
Are U.S. Dollar and Treasury Bonds Still Special?
Wenxin Du, Havard Business School
Coffee Break
2:00-2:30 PM
Session 5: Firms, Activism, and Exposure to Economic Risk
2:30 – 4:00 PM
Session Chair: Anya Mkrtchyan
Learning about Activism Skill
Rui Albuquerque (Carroll School of Management, Boston College), Vyacheslav Fos (Carroll School of Management, Boston College), Enrique Schroth (EDHEC Business School)
Discussant: Varun Sharma (Indiana University)
Hedging or Healing: How Business Cycle Exposure Affects the Safety Net
Kimberly Cornaggia (Penn State University), Xuelin Li (Columbia Business School), Zihan Ye (University of Tennessee)
Discussant: Joonsung Francis Won (University of Virginia)
Closing Remarks
4:00-4:30 PM
Plan Your Stay
Need to secure a hotel room for the conference?
The Hotel UMass is conveniently located on the Amherst campus and a number of rooms have been held at a special rate of $199 (for Thursday 4/23) and $209 (for Friday 4/24). Book your room here before March 26th to take advantage of these special rates (while rooms remain).
Checkout time is 11:00am.
Discounted passes for the Campus Center Parking Garage will be available at check-in.
Contact Us
Address
Contact
Hayley Jurczyk
Opening Hours
University of Massachusetts Amherst
121 Presidents Drive
Amherst, MA 01003
Mon - Fri
8:30 am – 4:30 pm