Upcoming FTG Events

25
Jun
Summer School 2025

From: June 25, 2025 - To: June 28, 2025

Foster School of Business
Following the success of previous summer schools, the Finance Theory Group (FTG), in conjunction with the University of Washington - Foster School of...

18
Jul
Summer FTG Conference 2025

From: July 18, 2025 - To: July 19, 2025

University College London
The FTG Summer Conference will be held at UCL School of Management (Google Map) in Canary Wharf, London,...

03
Oct
33rd Meeting at UT Austin (Fall 2025)

From: October 3, 2025 - To: October 4, 2025

University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is hosting the 33rd meeting of the FTG on October 3-4, 2025.
Finance Theory Insights

Finance Theory Insights
Issue 7 (June 2025)
Surprising implications of regulations and technological advancement

This issue of FTG Insights highlights some surprising equilibrium implications of regulations and technological advancement, which are at odds with what some would argue is common wisdom. “From Market Making to Matchmaking: Does Bank Regulation Harm Market Liquidity?” demonstrates that raising capital requirements for banks can, in the presence of competition from nonbank liquidity providers, lead to lower average trading costs for customers. The higher capital requirements lead banks to switch their activity towards matching buyers and sellers, rather than directly participating in trades, which can enhance investor welfare. “Disclosing to Informed Traders” illustrates the downside of policymakers adopting one-size-fits-all disclosure rules. It shows that equilibrium outcomes of disclosure requirements depend crucially on whether investors are also privately informed and how they interpret silence. More stringent disclosure requirements can lead some firms to conceal more, but at the same time can lead others to reveal more information voluntarily. “Technological Progress and Rent Seeking” shows that while technological improvements make inputs more productive, they also make it easier for firms to appropriate the higher production of others. As technologies improve, they disproportionally prompt more rent extraction, decoupling economic growth from technological progress. Finally, modern financial institutions have access to an array of sophisticated risk management tools that allow them to bundle risks in creative ways to enhance diversification, suggesting banks should have become more resilient over time. “Booms, busts, and common risk exposures” challenges this perceived wisdom by showing that superior risk management technologies can increase the overlap between banks’ portfolios and thereby make the system more rather than less fragile.
News
May 18, 2025
2025 Best Job Market Paper in Finance Theory
Congratulations to the winner of our annual prize for the best job market paper in finance theory: First...
May 17, 2025
2025 New Fellows and Members
The FTG would like to welcome our new members and fellows: • Fellows: Nobuhiro Kiyotaki, Thomas Philippon, Raghuram Rajan,...
April 15, 2025
"The Role of Theory in Finance Research" by Itay Goldstein
Itay Goldstein has published a piece in The Financial Review's “Future Directions” series, based on his opening lecture...
Featured Papers
Feb 14, 2018
Dec 30, 2016