The Top Finance Graduate Award recognizes the most promising PhD candidates in financial economics worldwide, graduating in 2023. The scientific committee selects the candidates with the greatest promise to have a long-term impact on our understanding of finance, regardless of their field of study. The winners will present this exciting new research during the Top Finance Graduate Award Conference.

9:00–9:30    Coffee and Welcome

9:30–9:40    Opening remarks by Jean-Edouard Colliard (HEC Paris)

9:40–10:25    Menaka Hampole (Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University): Financial Frictions and Human Capital Investments

9:40–11:10    Nishant Vats (University of Chicago Booth School of Business): Safety Nets, Credit, and Investment: Evidence from a Guaranteed Income Program

11:10–11:35    Coffee break

11:35-12:20    Lulu Wang (Stanford Graduate School of Business): Payment Network Competition

12:20-13:20    Lunch break

13:20-14:05    Indira Puri (Massachusetts Institute of Technology): Preferences for Simplicity and Risk-Taking in Financial Markets

14:05-14:50    Philippe van der Beck (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) : Flow-driven ESG returns

14:50–15:15    Coffee break

15:15-16:00    Max Miller (Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania): Who values democracy?

16:00-16:10    Awards presented by Augustin Landier (HEC Paris)

16:10-18:30    Break and social activity

18:30-19:00    Cocktail

19:00-21:30    Dinner at HEC Le Château

Organizers: Jean-Edouard Colliard and Augustin Landier (both HEC Paris, Finance Department). We are very grateful to XXX for supporting this event.