SAIF-CAFR Frontier in Finance Research Series

SAIF-CAFR Frontier in Finance Research Series

May 17 - 18, 2026
Beijing Time, GMT+8

Online and Onsite in Shanghai, China

We are pleased to announce that the first workshop under the SAIF-CAFR Frontier in Finance Research Series, jointly organized by Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) and China Academy of Financial Research (CAFR) at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, will take place from May 17-18, 2026 in a combined online-offline format in Shanghai, China.

Designed for young researchers in China, the Research Series aim to present distinguished scholars to introduce the participants to the frontiers of academic research in finance and provide them with cutting-edge research methodologies and thought-provoking perspectives, with the objective of inspiring their future academic careers and enhance the overall quality of research and teaching in finance in China. The first workshop consists of lectures given by three renowned finance scholars. Listed in the alphabetical order, they are:

 

Bo Bian
Assistant Professor of Finance at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia

Prof. Bian’s primary focus is on empirical corporate finance. She studies how legal and regulatory frameworks affect productivity, innovation, and entrepreneurship, with a particular emphasis on the digital economy. Her work has been published in leading economics and finance journals such as Journal of Finance.

Prof. Bian’s webpage: https://www.sauder.ubc.ca/people/bo-bian

 

Winston Wei Dou
Associate Professor of Finance and the Golub Faculty Scholar at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and Research Associate at the NBER

Professor Dou’s research primarily focuses on asset pricing and capital markets, integrating concepts, insights, modeling, and empirical tools from industrial organization (IO), macroeconomics, and econometrics. He is dedicated to developing innovative theoretical models and establishing strong connections between these models and data, with a particular emphasis on model robustness. Professor Dou has been a Research Associate at the NBER since 2025, after serving as a Faculty Research Fellow from 2022 to 2025. He was the Fama-Miller Visiting Professor at Chicago Booth in Winter 2023 and is also a Fellow of ABFER. His research has been published in leading journals such as Econometrica, Journal of Finance, Review of Financial Studies etc., and recognized with numerous awards. He currently serves as an Associate Editor of The Review of Finance, The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, The Journal of Corporate Finance, and The Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control.

Prof. Dou’s webpage: https://fnce.wharton.upenn.edu/profile/wdou/

 

Song Ma
Professor of Finance and Entrepreneurship at the Yale School of Management, Yale University, and Faculty Research Fellow at the NBER

Professor Ma’s main research interests are innovation economics, financial economics, AI and big data. His research also spans corporate strategy, industrial organization, antitrust, labor, and business law. His research has been featured in top academic journals such as Journal of Finance, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Financial Economics and Journal of Political Economy etc., and won numerous research awards. His research has also been referenced by legislators and policymakers around the world, including the White House, the Federal Trade Commission, the EU Competition Commission, and the UK Competition and Markets Authority. Professor Ma was recognized as Poets & Quants 40 under 40 Best Business School Professor in 2021.

Prof. Ma’s webpage: https://som.yale.edu/faculty-research/faculty-directory/song-ma

 

The Research Series lectures are delivered in English. If you are interested, please follow the link below to register by 5 May:

https://imsportal.saif.sjtu.edu.cn/dispatcher?classid=surveyapp&SURVEY_WJ_ID=2755

We look forward to meeting you at the workshop soon.

 

 

SAIF-CAFR Frontier in Finance Research Series

Program

May 17-18, 2026

(Beijing Time, GMT +8)

Online: Zoom

Onsite: Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF), Shanghai Jiao Tong University

 

9:00AM - 12:00AM, May 17, 2026

The Economics of Data in Finance

Professor Bo Bian
Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia

This lecture studies the data economy through the lens of finance, focusing on how data shapes economic activity across different units of analysis, including consumers, firms, and financial market participants. The key empirical approach exploits shocks to data generation and usage, arising from regulatory changes to platform interventions, to identify the economic role of data. By bringing together these settings, the lecture highlights how data operates as a central object linking real economic activity and financial markets, and outlines a broader research agenda at the intersection of the data economy and finance.

 

2:00PM - 5:00PM, May 17, 2026

AI and Reinforcement Learning in Financial Markets

Professor Winston Wei Dou
The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and NBER

This lecture provides a broad overview of how AI is transforming financial markets. The central message is that AI does not merely make trading faster or more efficient; it can also reshape competition among traders, influence how prices evolve, and affect overall market stability. As AI systems become more powerful, they may learn to coordinate in ways that weaken competition, fuel bubbles and crashes through forward-looking trading, and create new risks for market efficiency and financial stability. At the same time, humans still matter: human investors with private information and relatively high-level rationality can retain an important edge and, in some environments, outperform AI traders, especially when machines lose their market power or informational advantage. Overall, the lecture delivers a clear message: AI is becoming a powerful force in finance, with the potential both to improve markets and to create new forms of collusion, fragility, and regulatory concern.

 

9:00AM - 12:00AM, May 18, 2026

Financing Innovation — Firms, Markets, and the Economy

Professor Song Ma
Yale School of Management, Yale University and NBER

This lecture explores the multifaceted relationship between financial systems and technological progress by organizing its flow into four areas of study. We will first examine the core methodologies and tools used for analyzing innovation data and measurements. The focus then shifts to the internal mechanics of innovation inside the firm, exploring how R&D is financed, governed, and managed internally. Next, the lecture broadens its scope to analyze external innovation interactions between firms, touching on market rivalry, technology spillovers, and acquisitions. Finally, the program concludes by addressing the macro-level themes of innovation and growth, highlighting how new technologies diffuse and drive the broader economic landscape.