Accelerating Knowledge
The Department of Finance's biennial conference draws leading scholars to advance understanding of a dynamic and critical industry.
Do the "best ideas" of mutual fund managers typically make money for their clients? If so, what explains the disappointing performance record of so many funds? Are retail mutual fund investors increasingly focusing on short-term fund performance, and does this then induce mutual fund portfolio managers to shorten their investment horizon? Can institutional mechanisms, such as central reporting of transactions in the equity lending market, help to reduce the costs of short-selling stocks?
These were among the several topics investigated at the 2008 Finance Conference, "Institutional Investors and the Asset Management Industry," hosted by the Department of Finance at the University of Oregon's Lundquist College of Business, July 31-August 1. This year's biennial event brought together leading finance scholars to evaluate and debate the implications from the latest empirical research related to the behavior and investment environment of professional investors, such as managers of pension fund and mutual fund assets.
"By bringing together leading academics, our finance conference accelerates scholarship that leads to a better understanding of the complicated interactions between investors, firms that demand capital, and regulators," explained Associate Professor of Finance John Chalmers, the finance department chair.
The conference reinforces the college's strong reputation for empirical finance research and helps build momentum for its Securities Analysis Center, one of four centers of excellence at the Lundquist College of Business offering a uniquely focused graduate curriculum. The Securities Analysis Center and the college's Finance Partners, a group of donors supporting excellence in finance research and education, jointly sponsored this year's conference.
"The Securities Analysis Center is here to both support and benefit from the scholarly work of our faculty, and this was a terrific conference with interesting and important new research. The focus on institutional investing and fund management hits close to home for all investors, thus highlighting the important role that scholarship can play in advancing knowledge in areas that are ultimately critical to all of us," said the center's Managing Director Ben Salm.
More than thirty scholars from business schools, industry groups, and regulatory agencies from around the world--such as the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the University of Texas, Harvard Business School, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Investment Company Institute--attended the two-day conference, which showcased nine papers chosen from over sixty submissions.