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Events / Thalesians Series

About The Series

The IAQF's Thalesians Seminar Series is a joint effort on the part of the IAQF (www.iaqf.org) and the Thalesians (www.thalesians.com).  The goal of the series is to provide a forum for the exchange of new ideas and results related to the field of quantitative finance.  This goal is accomplished by hosting seminars where leading practitioners and academics present new work, and following the seminars with a reception to facilitate further interaction and discussion.

Call For Speakers

If you are interested in speaking at one of the upcoming seminars, please email info@iaqf.org

Past Seminars

About The Organizer

Harvey Stein is a senior VP in the Labs group at Two Sigma. From 1993 to 2022, Dr. Stein was at Bloomberg, where he served as the head of several departments including Quantitative Risk Analytics, Counterparty and Credit Risk, Interest Rates Derivatives, and Quantitative Finance R&D. Harvey is well known in the industry, having published and lectured on credit risk modeling, financial regulation, interest rate and FX modeling, CVA calculations, mortgage backed security valuation, COVID-19 data analysis, and other subjects.

Dr. Stein is on the board of directors of the IAQF, a board member of the Rutgers University Mathematical Finance program, an adjunct professor at Columbia University, and organizer of the IAQF/Thalesians financial seminar series. He's also worked as a quant researcher on the Bloomberg for President campaign.

Dr. Stein holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley (1991) and a B.S. in Mathematics from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (1982).

 



Upcoming Seminars

    • 13 Jun 2023
    • 6:00 PM (EDT)
    • Fordham University: McNally Amphitheater 140 West 62nd Street New York, NY 10023
    Register


    6:00 PM Seminar Begins

    7:30 PM Reception


    Hybrid Event:

    Fordham University

    McNally Amphitheater

    140 West 62nd Street

    New York, NY 10023

    Free Registration!


    For Virtual Attendees: Please select Virtual instead of member type upon registration.


    Proof of Vaccination Upon Entry is Required for In-Person Attendees


    Abstract:

    We examine the relation between the social ties between firms' headquarters locations and co-movements between their fundamentals and stock returns. Our evidence indicates that firms in the same industry with socially connected locations exhibit co-movement in fundamentals and stock returns that exceed those without socially connected locations. However, the stock returns reflect the location information with a lag. To exploit this lagged relationship, we form portfolios that buy (sell) stocks when their socially-weighted industry peer returns in the previous month is high (low). The value-weighted version of this portfolio generates a monthly alpha of 84 basis points. Social peer firm returns also predict firms' future earnings surprises, analysts' forecast errors, and earnings announcement returns. Further evidence indicates that the mispricing is stronger for low-visibility firms and for firms located outside of industry clusters, and that the effect is not subsumed by other sources of return predictability.

    Bio:

    Lin Peng is the Krell Chair Professor of Finance at Baruch College, the City University of New York, and a Visiting Professor at Princeton University. She has extensive expertise in the areas of behavioral finance, social networks, ESG, institutional investors, FinTech, and market structure. Professor Peng's recent research focuses on utilizing big data, artificial intelligence, and machine learning techniques to analyze the role of social networks in financial markets. She is also interested in designing CEO incentive contracts that encourage corporate social responsibility.

    Professor Peng’s research has been published in leading economics and finance journals such as the American Economic Review, Journal of Finance (lead article), Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Financial Economics, and Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis. She has received the Best Paper Awards at the International Conference on Smart Finance, the Driehaus Center for Behavioral Finance Research Prize, and the  Chinese Finance Association Meetings. Her work has been featured by media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Reuters, Institutional Investor, and the UCLA Anderson Review. She is a recipient of many research grants and awards, which include the UNPRI research grant, the Keynes Fund for Applied Economics Research Award, and the Institute for Quantitative Research in Finance Research Award, among others.

    Prof. Peng is a member of the management committee for the Keynes Fund for Applied Economics at the University of Cambridge and is an associate editor for the Journal of Empirical Finance and Financial Management. She was previously a Director of Research and Visiting Professor at the University of Cambridge and a visiting professor at Columbia University. She has taught various courses at the undergraduate, master's, and doctoral levels, including Investment Analysis, Social Finance, ESG and Sustainability, and Behavioral Finance, and has been honored with the Zicklin School's Teaching Excellence Award.

    Prof. Peng received an MA in Biology from Wesleyan University and a PhD in Finance from Duke University.

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