Finance Research

The finance faculty is an active research group dedicated to advancing the understanding of financial economics. Many of the faculty have earned international reputations for contributions to their fields. They are officers of prestigious professional organizations, are editors of and serve on editorial boards of leading academic journals, and consult and teach for public and private sector organizations. They are frequent contributors to the leading scholarly journals in finance and economics.

The combined intellectual capital of the Smith School’s 150 full-time and 50 part-time faculty are geared to the forces that are transforming the global economy and business and dedicated to helping our students understand and adapt to change. The Smith School is consistently ranked in the top 15 in the world for faculty research by Businessweek and Financial Times.

Finance Seminar Speakers: Spring 2025

DATESPEAKERLOCATION
February 28 
10:30 a.m. – Noon
Aaron Pancost 
University of Texas, Austin
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VMH 1330
March 7 
10:30 a.m. – Noon
Adi Sunderam 
Harvard University
VMH 1333
March 14 
10:30 a.m. – Noon
Deniz Aydin 
Washington University in St Louis
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VMH 1333
April 4 
10:30 a.m. – Noon
Taisiya Sikorskaya 
University of Chicago
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VMH 1333
April 7 
1:00 pm – 2:30 pm
Kilian Huber 
University of Chicago
Download: Paper 1; Paper 2
VMH 2333 ABC
April 11 
10:30 a.m. – Noon
Torben Andersen 
Northwestern University
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VMH 1333
April 25 
10:30 a.m. - Noon
Bo Bian 
University of British Columbia
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VMH 1333
May 2 
10:30 a.m. – Noon
Julia Fonseca 
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
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VMH 1333
May 9 
10:30 a.m. – Noon
Carola Frydman 
Northwestern University
VMH 1333

Finance Seminar Speakers: Fall 2024

DATESPEAKER
September 6Toni Whited
University of Michigan
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September 13Sharjil Haque
Federal Reserve
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September 20Deeksha Gupta
Johns Hopkins University
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September 27John Shim
University of Notre Dame
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October 4Paymon Khorrami
Duke University
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October 15Charles Nathanson
Northwestern University
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October 18Daniel Garrett
University of Pennsylvania
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October 25Valentin Haddad
UCLA
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November 8Greg Buchak
Stanford University
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November 22Amiyatosh Purnanandam
University of Michigan
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December 6Jaroslav Borovička
New York University
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December 10Scott Baker
Northwestern University
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Finance Seminar Speakers: Spring 2024

DateSpeaker
March 15Christian Opp
University of Rochester
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April 19Janet Gao
Georgetown University
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April 24David Autor
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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April 26Kerry Back
Rice University
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May 3Olivia Kim
Harvard Business School
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May 17Philip Dybvig
Washington University in Saint Louis
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Finance Seminar Speakers: Fall 2023

DateSpeaker
September 7Stavros Panageas
UCLA
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September 15Winston Dou
University of Pennsylvania
September 29Dmitiry Muravyev
Michigan State University
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October 6Luigi Zingales
University of Chicago
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October 18Ufuk Akcigit
University of Chicago
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November 17Sheridan Titman
University of Texas, Austin
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December 8Lubos Pastor
University of Chicago
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December 15Jason Sockin
Cornell University
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Banking Seminar

October 24, 2024

Event highlights

The Journal of Financial Services Research and the Center for Financial Policy hosted the inaugural Banking Seminar Series at the Ronald Reagan Building, Smith School Suite. The event featured Raghuram G. Rajan, Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, who led the first seminar in the series.

Financial Databases & Software

The Robert H. Smith School of Business provides its faculty and students easy access to the world’s leading online real-time financial data and software. In partnership with the University of Maryland McKeldin Library, the Robert H. Smith School of Business provides its faculty and students with a world-class set of research financial and other business databases, and the software to access them. Thomson Reuters Reuters 3000 Xtra – 62 concurrent accesses Reuters 3000 Xtra is a high-speed, integrated information and transaction service. It gives users a commanding view of the global real-time financial arena and provides a combination of news, information and insight as well as access to the global Reuters trading community. Its integrated price discovery and trading capabilities across all asset classes mean that decisions can be made and executed from a single desktop. Reuters 3000 Xtra reflects Reuters vast experience in global financial markets; functionality is continually upgraded and content enriched. Datastream Advance Thomson Datastream Advance offers you access to the world's largest and most respected financial statistical database. It contains more than two million financial instruments, securities, and indicators for over 175 countries in 60 markets. With up to 50 years of history and over 8,000 different fields, it provides access to over one hundred million time series. Thomson Datastream Advance combines easy-to-use, pre-formatted charts and tabular reports with truly flexible charting to help reveal new insights and relationships. Bloomberg Bloomberg Professional – 6 full function terminals The BLOOMBERG PROFESSIONAL® service seamlessly integrates real-time and historical information on about 5 million bonds, equities, commodities, currencies and funds. The electronic library also comprises data on almost every publicly traded company and biographies of more than 1 million people. And because everything is provided in single source, information can be accessed, analyzed or archived with just a few keystrokes or clicks. Historical Databases and Retrieval Software Full access is available to members of the University of Maryland community and on the Maryland campus. WRDS We subscribe to the Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS), a web based data service that provides instant access to several research quality financial databases.

Research Articles

February 6, 2018
Are Wall Street Salaries a Scourge?
Wall Street has garnered a reputation for its high salaries. Analysts, policymakers and academics have chided the industry, accusing it of helping to distort the "efficient allocation of talent." Smith School experts break down that criticism.
Read the article : Are Wall Street Salaries a Scourge?
January 30, 2018
How Berkshire Is Disrupting Healthcare
For those who listen closely to what Warren Buffett says, the announcement that Berkshire Hathaway was hooking up with Amazon.com and JPMorgan Chase to create an independent healthcare company didn't come as a big surprise.
Read the article : How Berkshire Is Disrupting Healthcare
January 30, 2018
Fantasy Merger League: 2018 Edition
Smith School experts bring you their fantasy M&A league — a list of potential tie-ups and explanations about what makes each one interesting. Imagine CVS teaming with 23andMe, or Daimler with Tesla, or Hilton with Airbnb.
Read the article : Fantasy Merger League: 2018 Edition
January 29, 2018
The Cross Section of Commodity Returns
What’s the most useful way to look at commodity prices? A team of Smith School researchers sought to answer that question by examining commodity futures returns over a 42-year period.
Read the article : The Cross Section of Commodity Returns
January 23, 2018
Why 2018 Could Be Big for Fannie, Freddie
Are these the end of days for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? Lawmakers are considering whether to close the chapter on conservatorship for the two government-sponsored enterprises, a move that could bring big changes to housing finance in the United States.
Read the article : Why 2018 Could Be Big for Fannie, Freddie
January 16, 2018
How to Optimize Executive Incentives
Leaders can lose their jobs for simply having the right skills at the wrong time, which can complicate negotiations for executive incentive packages.
Read the article : How to Optimize Executive Incentives
January 2, 2018
Top Five Stocks To Watch in 2018
2017 was a pretty happy year for stock investors, and the Smith School's David Kass says he expects 2018 to be rosy as well. He shares his top five picks: Berkshire Hathaway, Apple, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Kraft Heinz.
Read the article : Top Five Stocks To Watch in 2018
December 15, 2017
The Rise of the Oft-Misunderstood CRO
When the Smith School's Cliff Rossi was chief risk officer for Citigroup's Consumer Lending Division, few people understood the role. Things have changed since then. Rossi explains the evolution and what's next.
Read the article : The Rise of the Oft-Misunderstood CRO
December 14, 2017
Buying a Home in 2018? What You Should Know
With three or four Fed rate hikes anticipated in 2018, mortgage rates will edge higher. But the borrowing environment will remain favorable, Smith School professor Clifford Rossi says. He takes a look at the housing market as we head into a new year.
Read the article : Buying a Home in 2018? What You Should Know
December 13, 2017
Why Is Bitcoin Still Rising?
Bitcoin continued to defy gravity this week, even as many prepared to watch it plunge. And no one seems quite sure why. The Smith School's Albert "Pete" Kyle says he believes the cryptocurrency's plunge is inevitable. It may just be a bit delayed.
Read the article : Why Is Bitcoin Still Rising?