1st Alpine Finance Summit (AFS)

Co-organized with Jochen Lawrenz (University of Innsbruck), Sebastian Utz (University of Augsburg), Florian Weigert (University of Neuchâtel), and Alex Weissensteiner (Free University of Bolzano).

Hosted at Hotel Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria, August 25–28, 2024. Inaugural edition of what has since become an annual conference rotating across the Alpine region.

Academic keynote: Michael Weber (University of Chicago Booth School of Business). Alpine keynote: Paul Guschlbauer (professional paragliding pilot; multiple-podium finisher in the Red Bull X-Alps).

Each paper received a 20-minute presentation, a 10-minute discussant response, and 10 minutes of open Q&A. The outdoor programme featured paragliding and hiking in the Nordkette mountains above Innsbruck.

Programme

From 180 submissions, 14 papers were selected (acceptance rate < 8%). Each paper received a 20-minute presentation, a 10-minute discussant response, and 10 minutes of open Q&A.

Sunday, 25 August 2024

• Sources of Return Predictability — Beata Gafka, Pavel Savor, Mungo Wilson. Discussant: Can Gao.
• The Cross-Section of Subjective Expectations: Understanding Prices and Anomalies — Sean Myers, Ricardo de la O, Xiao Han. Discussant: Denis Mokanov.
• The Hairy Premium — Zhaneta Tancheva, Pasquale Della Corte, Ljubica Georgievska, Anthony Saunders. Discussant: Petri Jylhä.
• Productivity Changes around Childbirth: Evidence from the Mutual Fund Industry — Larissa Ginzinger, Kun Li, Alexandra Niessen-Ruenzi, Gang Wang. Discussant: Boone Bowles.

Evening: Apéro at Hotel Innsbruck

Monday, 26 August 2024 — Nordkette mountain session (Restaurant Seegrube)

• Machine Forecast Disagreement — Mathis Moerke, Turan G. Bali, Bryan T. Kelly, Jamil Rahman. Discussant: Alejandro Lopez-Lira.
• Does Search Engine Visibility Help ETFs Attract Flows? — Olga Obizhaeva. Discussant: Juha Joenväärä.
• Imputing Mutual Fund Trades — Jean-Paul Van Brakel, Dion Bongaerts, Mathijs van Dijk, Joop Huij. Discussant: Simona Abis.

Evening: Alpine keynote — Paul Guschlbauer (professional paraglider; Red Bull X-Alps)

Tuesday, 27 August 2024

• Active Fund Management when ESG Matters — Andrea Tarelli, Daron Avramov, Si Cheng. Discussant: Ekaterina Neretina.
• Corporate Climate Lobbying — Tingyu Yu, Markus Leippold, Zacharias Sautner. Discussant: Markus Schmid.
• ESG Skill of Mutual Fund Managers — Marco Ceccarelli, Richard Evans, Simon Glossner, Mikael Homanen, Ellie Luu. Discussant: Michael Young.

Evening: Conference dinner with academic keynote — Michael Weber (University of Chicago Booth School of Business), Restaurant “SKY” Bergisel

Wednesday, 28 August 2024

• The Frequency of Outperformance and Investment Decisions — Michael Ungeheuer, Martin Weber. Discussant: Petra Sinagl.
• Will ETFs Drive Mutual Funds Extinct? — Anna Helmke. Discussant: Daniel Schmidt.
• The Subjective Risk and Return Expectations of Institutional Investors — Spencer Couts, Andrei Goncalves, Johnathan Loudis. Discussant: Alberto Manconi.
• Timing the Factor Zoo — Otto Randl, Andreas Neuhierl, Christoph Reschenhofer, Josef Zechner. Discussant: Tim Kroencke.

Full programme: alpinefinancesummit.org/past-program-2024