HEC Paris Ph.D. student Huan Tang was rewarded the 2020 AQR Top Finance Graduate Award. This prize rewards the six best finance Ph.D. graduates in the world. Huan works on the value that consumers place on the privacy of information in online bank lending platforms, under the supervision of Johan Hombert, HEC Paris professor of finance. In this interview, Huan explains what her latest research brings to the field of data privacy in online banking and FinTechs.
Research by Johan Hombert (HEC Paris) recently published in The Journal of Finance shows that well-designed unemployment insurance is key to foster business dynamism. As unemployment is surging in the wake of COVID-19, the post-crisis policy toolkit should take special care of the design of unemployment insurance.
By Johan Hombert
Is the COVID-19 pandemic an opportunity for us to rethink our current energy system? Jean-Michel Gauthier, professor and Executive Director of the Energy & Finance Chair at HEC Paris, explains the global consequences of the coronavirus and paints a picture of the future of the Energy Transition right here at the heart of the European Union.
What do companies gain when they make political contributions? HEC Paris professor of finance Alexei Ovtchinnikov and his co-authors sought to pinpoint one benefit for firms—increased innovation—and to understand the mechanisms behind it.
By Alexei Ovtchinnikov
This in-depth dossier features the latest and cutting-edge research findings on decision making from HEC Paris' professors. We hope that the tools presented will help you think your decision making from new angles and to elaborate appropriate strategies in various situations, especially during these times of uncertainty.
When will be the next financial crisis? Who is going to win the next US presidential elections? How do we create beliefs about such events? By understanding how probabilistic beliefs form, economic theorists can now explain and predict phenomena that depend on rational beliefs. Latest research by Rossella Argenziano and Itzhak Gilboa equips economic modeling with a theory and a set of tools of belief formation, based on statistics and psychology. Some of the immediate applications are the equilibrium selection in coordination games.
By Itzhak Gilboa
Trust plays a key role both in investors’ and entrepreneurs’ performances. It is built among others on a shared vision of entrepreneurship, as well as shared networks. In this interview, HEC Paris Professor Hélène Löning shares her expertise based on research and several studies about entrepreneurial ecosystems conducted with her students. She introduces the different relationship stages between investors and entrepreneurs, explains the consequences of shared images of entrepreneurship, and the business schools’ key role in building this relationship and its ability to innovate. To conclude, she emphasizes the notion of trust by explaining how it applies to investors and entrepreneurs.
What we are experiencing is similar to an earthquake of strong magnitude. Everyone agrees that there will be a before and after Covid-19. Whilst this earthquake assails us all, we do have control of the choices and decisions to be made. These will determine how crippled or strengthened we will be by the end... As always in times of crisis there are losers and winners, the cards are redealt.
Fears about economic depression following the pandemic lead most entrepreneurs to restructure their company drastically in order to secure their cash and prevent future liquidity crises. Etienne Krieger, Associate Professor on the Education Track at HEC Paris, explains the main challenges for entrepreneurs when major economic crises occur and their room for manoeuvre in terms of operations and finance. Such crises paradoxically provide a unique opportunity to rethink business models.
In early 2020, the European Research Council (ERC) granted €450 million for Europe’s long-term research, because “Europe’s future depends on science and research", reminded Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth. Among 185 winning researchers, with expertise ranging across all fields, HEC Paris Professor Bruno Biais was awarded for his research project in finance, entitled "Welfare, Incentives, Dynamics, and Equilibrium". He explains it in this interview.
By Bruno Biais
