Inaugural Rutgers Finance Research Conference, 2026

Date: April 30, 2026 - May 1, 2026
Location: Rutgers Business School - Newark, NJ

The Finance and Economics Department and the Whitcomb Center at Rutgers Business School are hosting the inaugural Rutgers Finance Research Conference, to be held on our Newark campus.

The conference aims to bring together leading scholars to present and discuss innovative research across all areas of finance. The program will feature a keynote address and approximately 10 selected papers representing a broad range of topics in financial economics.

new jersey/new york cruise ship at night
The conference will commence on the afternoon of Thursday, April 30, 2026, and conclude on the evening of Friday, May 1, 2026. The conference will include a dinner cruise in New Jersey/New York City on the evening of Thursday, April 30, 2026.

Keynote Speaker

Viral Acharya
C.V. Starr Professor of Economics, NYU Stern, NBER, CEPR, ECGI
Editor, Review of Financial Studies

Conference Organizers

Ivan Brick
Dean’s Professor of Business and Director, Whitcomb Center for Research in Financial Services

Darius Palia
Distinguished Professor, Thomas A. Renyi Endowed Chair in Banking, and Department Chair

Program Committee

Azi Ben-Rephael

Priyank Gandhi

Jin-Mo Kim

Nitish Kumar

Sophia Li

Rose Liao

Hosein Maleki

Tavy Ronen

Mehrdad Samadi

Yangru Wu

Ken Zhong

Conference Program

April 30, 2026 - May 1, 2026

Organized by Ivan Brick and Darius Palia

Hotel Information: We have a limited number of rooms available at the conference rate. The reservation deadline is April 20, and rooms will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis.

Reserve Hotel

Click to open a separate page for the conference program

Thursday, April 30, 2026
12:00 – 12:30 pm	Registration
Welcome: 12:30 – 12:45 pm	Dr. Lei Lei, Dean, Rutgers Business School Ivan Brick, Director, Whitcomb Center, Rutgers Business School Darius Palia, Chairman, Finance & Economics, Rutgers Business School
Session 1: 12:45 – 2:15 pm	Chair: Ivan Brick, Rutgers Entrepreneurship on a Safety Net: Evidence from the World’s Largest Cash Transfer Program Murillo Campello, Florida, NBER Guilherme Junqueira, Florida Spyridon Lagaras, Illinois Discussant: Jarred Harford, Washington Do Institutional Investors Trade on Covenant Violations Anthony Saunders, NYU Stern Sascha Steffen, Frankfurt, CEPR Paulina M. Verhoff, Frankfurt Discussant: Robert Prilmeier, Tulane
2:15 – 2:30 pm	Break
Session 2: 2:30 – 4:00 pm	Chair: Morris Davis, Rutgers Target Allocation Funds, Strategic Complementarities, and Market Fragility Chuck Fang, Drexel University Itay Goldstein, Wharton, NBER Discussant: Jay Wang, Oregon FCI-star Ricardo J. Caballero, MIT, NBER Tomas E. Caravello, MIT Alp Simsek, Yale, NBER, CEPR Discussant: Karthik Shastry, Princeton
	Dinner cruise: Bus leaves at 4:15 pm from the lobby.

Thursday, April 30, 2026

12:00 – 12:30 pm

Registration

Welcome:

12:30 – 12:45 pm

Dr. Lei Lei, Dean, Rutgers Business School
Ivan Brick, Director, Whitcomb Center, Rutgers Business School
Darius Palia, Chairman, Finance & Economics, Rutgers Business School

Session 1:

12:45 – 2:15 pm

Chair: Ivan Brick, Rutgers

Entrepreneurship on a Safety Net: Evidence from the World’s Largest Cash Transfer Program
Murillo Campello, Florida, NBER
Guilherme Junqueira, Florida
Spyridon Lagaras, Illinois

Discussant: Jarred Harford, Washington

Do Institutional Investors Trade on Covenant Violations
Anthony Saunders, NYU Stern
Sascha Steffen, Frankfurt, CEPR
Paulina M. Verhoff, Frankfurt

Discussant: Robert Prilmeier, Tulane

2:15 – 2:30 pm

Break

Session 2:

2:30 – 4:00 pm

Chair: Morris Davis, Rutgers

Target Allocation Funds, Strategic Complementarities, and Market Fragility
Chuck Fang, Drexel University
Itay Goldstein, Wharton, NBER

Discussant: Jay Wang, Oregon

FCI-star
Ricardo J. Caballero, MIT, NBER
Tomas E. Caravello, MIT
Alp Simsek, Yale, NBER, CEPR

Discussant: Karthik Shastry, Princeton

Dinner cruise: Bus leaves at 4:15 pm from the lobby.

Friday, May 1, 2026
8:00 – 9:00 am	Breakfast
Session 3: 9:00 – 10:30 am	Chair: Darius Palia, Rutgers Too-Many-To-Ignore: Regional Banks and CRE Risks Franz J. Hinzen, Tuck at Dartmouth Felipe Severino, Tuck at Dartmouth Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, Columbia Discussant: Chris James, Florida Mired in Losses: How the Disposition Effect Depresses Purchase Behavior Brad M. Barber Rongtai Chu, Peking Yu-Jane Liu, Peking Terrance Odean, Berkeley Yushui Shi, Monash Discussant: Jay Huang, Penn State
10:30 – 10:45 am	Break
Session 4: 10:45 – 12:15 pm	Chair: Yangru Wu, Rutgers How Do Government Guarantees Affect Deposit Supply Thomas Flanagan, Ohio State Edward T. Kim, Michigan Shohini Kundu, UCLA, CEPR Amiyatosh Purnanandam, Texas Discussant: Manju Puri, Duke, NBER The Consequences of Fund-level Liquidity Requirements Indraneel Chakraborty, Miami Elia Ferracuti, Duke John Heater, Minnesota Matthew Phillips, MIT Discussant: Antonio Falato, Federal Reserve Board
12:15 pm – 1:15 pm	Lunch
Session 5: 1:15 – 2:45 pm	Chair: Simi Kedia, Rutgers Policy by Committee Toomas Laarits, NYU Stern Ben Matthies, University of Notre Dame Kaushik Vasudevan, Purdue Will Yang, Yale University Discussant: Lubomir Litov, Oklahoma Demand Elasticity in the Primary Market for Corporate Bonds Edith Hotchkiss, Boston College Liying Wang, Nebraska-Lincoln Yijia (Eddie) Zhao, Massachusetts-Boston Discussant: Jennie Bai, Georgetown
3:00 – 5:00 pm	Keynote Speaker: Professor Viral Acharya, NYU, NBER Editor, Review of Financial Studies Reception and Farewell

Friday, May 1, 2026

8:00 – 9:00 am

Breakfast

Session 3:

9:00 – 10:30 am

Chair: Darius Palia, Rutgers

Too-Many-To-Ignore: Regional Banks and CRE Risks
Franz J. Hinzen, Tuck at Dartmouth
Felipe Severino, Tuck at Dartmouth
Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, Columbia

Discussant: Chris James, Florida

Mired in Losses: How the Disposition Effect Depresses Purchase Behavior
Brad M. Barber
Rongtai Chu, Peking
Yu-Jane Liu, Peking
Terrance Odean, Berkeley
Yushui Shi, Monash

Discussant: Jay Huang, Penn State

10:30 – 10:45 am

Break

Session 4:

10:45 – 12:15 pm

Chair: Yangru Wu, Rutgers

How Do Government Guarantees Affect Deposit Supply
Thomas Flanagan, Ohio State
Edward T. Kim, Michigan
Shohini Kundu, UCLA, CEPR
Amiyatosh Purnanandam, Texas

Discussant: Manju Puri, Duke, NBER

The Consequences of Fund-level Liquidity Requirements
Indraneel Chakraborty, Miami
Elia Ferracuti, Duke
John Heater, Minnesota
Matthew Phillips, MIT

Discussant: Antonio Falato, Federal Reserve Board

12:15 pm – 1:15 pm

Lunch

Session 5:

1:15 – 2:45 pm

Chair: Simi Kedia, Rutgers

Policy by Committee
Toomas Laarits, NYU Stern
Ben Matthies, University of Notre Dame
Kaushik Vasudevan, Purdue
Will Yang, Yale University

Discussant: Lubomir Litov, Oklahoma

Demand Elasticity in the Primary Market for Corporate Bonds
Edith Hotchkiss, Boston College
Liying Wang, Nebraska-Lincoln
Yijia (Eddie) Zhao, Massachusetts-Boston

Discussant: Jennie Bai, Georgetown

3:00 – 5:00 pm

Keynote Speaker: Professor Viral Acharya, NYU, NBER
Editor, Review of Financial Studies

Reception and Farewell