ABFER 12th ANNUAL CONFERENCE
The Call for Papers is now closed. Selected papers will be informed by end of February. The conference will be held on 19-22 May 2025 in Singapore.
FIND OUT MORE
12th ASIAN MONETARY POLICY FORUM
The 12th AMPF will commence on 22 May 2025 with a joint dinner with ABFER, followed by the forum on 23 May 2025 at Conrad Singapore Orchard
FIND OUT MORE
CALL FOR POSTERS 2025
The Call for Posters is now closed. Selected papers will be informed by end of February. The poster sessions will be held on 20 and 21 May 2025 at the ABFER 12th Annual Conference.
Find out more
CAPITAL MARKET DEVELOPMENT: CHINA AND ASIA
Webinar series on every third Thursday of the month
FIND OUT MORE
INDUSTRY OUTREACH PANEL
FIND OUT MORE
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  • ABFER 12th ANNUAL CONFERENCE
  • 12th ASIAN MONETARY POLICY FORUM
  • CALL FOR POSTERS 2025
  • CAPITAL MARKET DEVELOPMENT: CHINA AND ASIA
  • INDUSTRY OUTREACH PANEL

SOME IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT US

3520 SUBMITTED Papers submitted to
Annual Conference
9225 AUTHORS Representing number
of authors
622 PRESENTED Papers presented at
Annual Conferences
202 JOURNALS Papers published in
significant journals
4700 PARTICIPANTS Participants at
Annual Conferences

10th Annual Conference
Master Class by Professor Amir Sufi

 

Inequality in Finance and Macroeconomics

This class will review three studies I have coauthored with Atif Mian and Ludwig Straub: Indebted Demand, The Saving Glut of the Rich, and What explains the decline in r*: Rising income inequality versus demographic shifts. The basic point in this agenda is that the rise in top income shares since the 1980s has led to a decline in the equilibrium rate of return on assets, and it has also been a powerful force explaining why household debt to GDP ratios have risen globally. The key takeaway is that income inequality is more of an issue of fairness: that inequality matters for key macroeconomic aggregates, the financial system, and policy.

25
May
2023
Thursday
Venue: Azalea 2
Shangri-La Singapore, 22 Orange Grove Rd, Singapore 258350



Program is subjected to change. Updated on 31 May 2023.

Speakers

  • Professor Amir SUFI

    Professor Amir SUFI

     

    Bruce Lindsay Distinguished Service Professor of Economics and Public Policy, Booth School of Business, University of Chicago

    Amir Sufi is the Bruce Lindsay Distinguished Service Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is also co-director of the Corporate Finance Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a Fellow of the Econometric Society. Professor Sufi was awarded the 2017 Fischer Black Prize by the American Finance Association, given biennially to the top financial economics scholar under the age of 40. Professor Sufi's research focuses on finance and macroeconomics. His research on household debt and the economy forms the basis of his book co-authored with Atif Mian: House of Debt: How They (and You) Caused the Great Recession and How We Can Prevent It from Happening Again, which was published by the University of Chicago Press.

  • Professor Sumit AGARWAL

    Professor Sumit AGARWAL

     

    Low Tuck Kwong Distinguished Professor, HOD Real Estate, Managing Director, Sustainable and Green Finance Institute, National University of Singapore and Senior Fellow of ABFER

    Sumit Agarwal is the Low Tuck Kwong Professor at the School of Business and Professor in the departments of Economics, Finance and Real Estate at the National University of Singapore. Previously, he held positions as a Professor of Finance at Georgetown University, senior financial economist in the research department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and a senior vice president and credit risk management executive in the Small Business Risk Solutions Group of Bank of America.

    Dr. Agarwal's research interests include issues relating to financial institutions, household finance, behavioral finance, international finance, real estate markets, urban economics and capital markets. He has published over eighty research articles in journals like the American Economic Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Political Economy, Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, Management Science, Journal of Financial Intermediation, Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking among others. Additionally, he has co-written a book titled Kiasunomics and co-edited a collected volume on Household Credit Usage: Personal Debt and Mortgages.

    He is the co-editor of Real Estate Economics and an association editor at Management Science and Journal of Financial Services Research. He writes regular op-ed’s in the Straits Times and Forbes and is featured on various media outlets like the BBC, CNBC, and Fox on issues relating to finance, banking, and real estate markets. Sumit’s research is widely cited in leading newspapers and magazines like the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Economist, and the U.S Presidents Report to Congress. He also runs a blog on household financial decision making called Smart Finance.

    Dr. Agarwal has won various prestigious awards like the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, Outstanding Researcher Award at the National University of Singapore, the Paul Samuelson TIAA-CREF certificate of excellence, the Terker Family Prizes in Investment Research Award from the Wharton School of Business, the Glucksman Institute Research Award from New York University and grants from the Russell Sage Foundation and the NBER/Sloan Foundation.

    Dr. Agarwal has been invited to present his research at many renowned universities such Columbia University, Northwestern University, University of California Berkeley, Johns Hopkins, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Maryland, as well as institutions and central banks namely the IMF, World Bank, European Central Bank, European Union, Dutch Central Bank, Riksbank, OCC, and the Federal Reserve Banks of Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. He has consulted with the World Bank, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, OCC, the Reserve Bank of India and Bank of America.

    He has also served as an adjunct professor and a scholar at the finance department at George Washington University, DePaul University, the Indian School of Business, HKUST, BIS and the World Bank. Agarwal received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

  • 1

Session Format

90 minutes lecture followed by 30 minutes Q&A.




11th Annual Conference
Master Class by Professor David Autor

 

Automation, New Work Creation, and Expertise Augmentation


Prof David Autor will offer a cohesive framework for understanding three distinct channels by which technological change may reshape the demand for labor — automation, new work creation, and expertise augmentation — and will consider recent empirical evidence that speaks to these channels.

23
May
2024
Thursday
Venue: Ocean 4 & 5, Level 2
Pan Pacific Singapore, 7 Raffles Boulevard, Marina Square, Singapore 039595



Program is subjected to change. Updated on 30 May 2024.

Speakers

  • Professor David AUTOR

    Professor David AUTOR

     

    Ford Professor of Economics and Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

    David Autor is Ford Professor in the MIT Department of Economics, codirector of the NBER Labor Studies Program and the MIT Shaping the Future of Work Initiative. His scholarship explores the labor-market impacts of technological change and globalization on job polarization, skill demands, earnings levels and inequality, and electoral outcomes.
    Autor has received numerous awards for both his scholarship—the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, the Sherwin Rosen Prize for outstanding contributions to the field of Labor Economics, the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship in 2019, the Society for Progress Medal in 2021—and for his teaching, including the MIT MacVicar Faculty Fellowship. In 2020, Autor received the Heinz 25th Special Recognition Award from the Heinz Family Foundation for his work “transforming our understanding of how globalization and technological change are impacting jobs and earning prospects for American workers.” In 2023, Autor was selected as one of two researchers across all scientific fields a NOMIS Distinguished Scientist.

    The Economist magazine labeled Autor in 2019 as “The academic voice of the American worker.” Later that same year, and with equal justification, he was christened “Twerpy MIT Economist” by John Oliver of Last Week Tonight in a segment on automation and employment.

  • Professor Jessica PAN

    Professor Jessica PAN

     

    Professor of Economics, National University of Singapore and Fellow, ABFER

    Jessica Pan is Vice Provost (Graduate Education) at the National University of Singapore (NUS). She is also Dean of NUS Graduate School (NUSGS). Prior to that, she was Vice Dean of Academic Programmes at NUSGS, Deputy Head of Research at the Department of Economics, and Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Studies at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS).
    A labour economist by training, Prof Pan has been highly recognised for her research on applied topics in gender, education, and immigration. In recognition of her research accomplishments, she was awarded the NUS Young Researcher Award in 2022, Dean’s Chair in 2019, and the FASS Award for Promising Researcher in 2015. In 2020, she was elected as a fellow of the prestigious Econometric Society. She is also a Research Fellow at the Institute of Labor Economics, the leading international network in labour economics, and the Centre for Economic Policy Research.

    Prof Pan currently serves as Co-Editor of the Journal of Public Economics. Previously, she was Associate Editor of the Journal of the European Economic Association, the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, and the Journal of Population Economics. She is also Secretary (President-designate) of the Asian and Australasian Society of Labor Economics and serves regularly as a research consultant to various Singapore government ministries.

    Prof Pan received a Bachelor’s in Economics from the University of Chicago, followed by an MBA and PhD from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

  • 1

Session Format

90 minutes lecture followed by 30 minutes Q&A.



12th Annual Conference
Master Class by Professor Steven Davis

 

Measuring Policy Uncertainty, Assessing its Consequences


We will review text-based approaches to measuring policy uncertainty and assessing its effects on business investment, employment growth, and national economic performance. We will show how to use similar methods to quantify and characterize the sources of stock market volatility. Throughout the discussion, we will attend to the role of simplicity, transparency, expertise, scalability, cost, and performance in selecting a text corpus and text-based methods for research purposes.

22
May
2025
Thursday
Venue: Tanglin I to III, Level 2
Conrad Singapore Orchard, 1 Cuscaden Rd, Singapore 249715



Program is subjected to change. Updated on 28 Feb 2025.

Speakers

  • Professor Steven DAVIS

    Professor Steven DAVIS

     

    Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, William H. Abbott Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and Senior Fellow and Exco Member, ABFER

    Steven Davis is the Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Senior Fellow and Director of Research at the Hoover Institution, senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR), and distinguished service professor emeritus at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is an NBER research associate, IZA research fellow, senior academic fellow with the Asian Bureau of Finance and Economics Research, adviser to the Monetary Authority of Singapore, visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, senior adviser to the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, and an elected fellow of the Society of Labor Economists. He hosts Economics, Applied, a bi-monthly podcast series sponsored by the Hoover Institution.

    In addition to his scholarly work, Davis has written for the Atlantic, Bloomberg View, Financial Times, Forbes, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal and other popular media. He has appeared on BBC, Bloomberg TV, CGTN, Channel News Asia, CNBC, CNN, Fox News, NBC Network News, Sinclair Broadcast Group, and the U.S. Public Broadcasting System.

  • Professor Shang-Jin WEI

    Professor Shang-Jin WEI

     

    N.T. Wang Professor of Chinese Business and Economy, and Professor of Finance and Economics, Columbia University; Former Chief Economist, Asian Development Bank and Vice President, ABFER

    Shang-Jin Wei is N.T. Wang Professor of Chinese Business and Economy and Professor of Finance and Economics at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business and School of International and Public Affairs.

    During 2014-2016, Dr. Wei served as Chief Economist of Asian Development Bank and Director General of its Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department. He was ADB’s chief spokesperson on economic trends and economic development in Asia, advised ADB’s President on economic development issues, led the bank’s analytical support for regional cooperation fora including ASEAN+3 (China, Japan, and Korea) and APEC, growth strategy diagnostics for developing member countries, as well as research on macroeconomic, financial, labor market, and globalization issues.

    Prior to his Columbia appointment in 2007, he was Assistant Director and Chief of Trade and Investment Division at the International Monetary Fund. He was the IMF’s Chief of Mission to Myanmar (Burma) in 2004. He previously held the positions of Associate Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University, the New Century Chair in Trade and International Economics at the Brookings Institution, and Advisor at the World Bank.

    He has been a consultant to numerous government organizations including the U.S. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, United Nations Economic Commission on Europe, and United Nations Development Program, the Asian Development Bank, and to private companies such as PricewaterhouseCoopers. He holds a PhD in economics and M.S. in finance from the University of California, Berkeley.

    Dr. Wei is a noted scholar on international finance, trade, macroeconomics, and China. He is a recipient of the Sun Yefang Prize for Distinguished Contributions to Economics (for the invention of the Competitive Saving Motive published in Journal of Political Economy), the Zhang Peifang Prize for Contributions to Economics of Development (for pioneering work on measurement of global value chains published in American Economic Review), and the Gregory Chow Award for Best Research Paper; some of his research was supported by a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation.

    Dr. Wei’s research has been published in top academic journals including American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Finance, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of International Economics, and Journal of Development Economics, and reported in popular media including Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Economist, Business Week, Times, US News and World Report, Chicago Tribune, South China Morning Post, and other international news media.

  • 1

Session Format

90 minutes lecture followed by 30 minutes Q&A.



Academic Luncheon Keynote by Professor Darrell Duffie

 

The Decline of Too Big to Fail
(Based on joint work with Antje Berndt and Yichao Zhu)

Crisis revelations of the costs of "too-big-to-fail'' have lead to new legal methods, globally, for resolving the insolvencies of systemically important banks. Rather than bailing out these firms with government capital injections, insolvency losses are now supposed to be allocated to wholesale creditors. Many commenters believe, however, that these reforms have not significantly reduced the likelihood of government bailouts of these firms. We estimate post-crisis declines in market-implied bailout probabilities for US globally-systemically important banks (G-SIBs), the associated increases in G-SIB bond yields, and the declines in G-SIB equity market values stemming from reductions in debt financing subsidies associated with bailout expectations. We show that G-SIB balance sheet data and the market prices of debt and equity imply a dramatic and persistent post-crisis reduction in market-implied probabilities of government bailouts of U.S. G-SIB holding companies.