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ankruptcies, market sentiments and its influence on the price of options
on indexes, the premium on uncertainty with respect to the level of risk in
the market, etc.
The conference was held over a two day period during which 13 papers,
which were strictly selected from amongst more than 100 papers submitted
from around the world, were presented. The papers were selected by a
thirteen member committee headed by Prof. Roni Michaely, a lecturer
at the Arison School of Business and Cornell University and a Research
Fellow at the Rothschild Caesarea Center, and Prof. Jacob Boudoukh, the
Academic Administrator of the Caesarea Center.
Some 70 professors of Finance attended the conference, emanating from
leading universities in Israel and around the world, including: Harvard
Business School; Stanford University; London Business School; INSEAD;
Haas School of Business; University of California, Berkeley; Cornell
University; Yale School of Management; Duke University. New York
University; Boston University; Hong Kong University; University of
Michigan; Washington University in St. Louis; and Columbia Business
School.
SOME 70 PROFESSORS OF FINANCE ATTENDED THE
CONFERENCE, EMANATING FROM LEADING UNIVERSITIES
IN ISRAEL AND AROUND THE WORLD, INCLUDING: HARVARD
BUSINESS SCHOOL; STANFORD UNIVERSITY; LONDON
BUSINESS SCHOOL AND INSEAD
At the end of the conference, a competition was held in which the Best
Discussant and Outstanding Paper were chosen. The Outstanding Paper
prize was awarded to Neng Wang, of Columbia University, for his paper:
“A Unified Theory of Tobin’s q, Corporate Investment, Financing, and Risk
Management.”
The Best Discussant prize went to Evgeny Lyandres of Boston University,
for the paper entitled: “Maxing Out: Stocks as Lotteries and the Cross-
Section of Expected Returns.”
THE CAESAREA CENTER SUMMER FINANCE
CONFERENCE
In July, the Rothschild Center, in cooperation with the Arison School of
Business, held an academic conference attended by over thirty Israeli
researchers from around the world. The conference was held over a three
day period, during which papers on a wide range of subjects of financial
economics were presented by senior
Israeli researchers from the best
universities in the world, including:
Washington University, Tel Aviv
University, Cornell University,
Duke University, University of
Boston, University of Pennsylvania,
New York University, the Hebrew
University and Columbia University.
The paper by Prof. Ohad Kadan of
Washington University in St. Louis received a great deal of interest. The
study by Prof. Kadan deals with the quality of recommendations of analysts
at Investment Houses in the USA. The innovation of the study is in the
fact that it examines the quality of recommendations of analysts not only
with respect to specific companies, but with respect to entire industries (for
example, a recommendation in favor of the Teva Company as opposed to a
recommendation in favor of the pharmaceutical industry). The hypothesis
hOt Off the Press AcADemic news
is that the analysts who research companies are in possession of knowledge
with respect to the companies. It is less reasonable to assume that that they
are in possession of knowledge with respect to an entire industry that could
bring about the creation of value for investors. The results of the study
are quite surprising: The recommendations of analysts with respect to an
industry yield more credible results than their recommendations with
respect to a specific company. The study indicates that a combination of
recommendations with respect to companies and recommendations with
respect to an industry create an interesting investment strategy.
The conference constituted a meeting place for the presentation of the most
important academic industry in the financial field. The conference facilitated
personal and professional meetings of colleagues from various institutes in
Israel and around the world, for purposes of updates and learning of what
is new and what has been renewed. The success of the conference was
gauged mainly as a result of the quality of the professional content that was
discussed during the course of the conference.
The conference also constituted a bolster for the hiring of Israeli scientists
from abroad by leading academic institutes in Israel, by creating an
atmosphere of research, mutual cross pollination and interaction between
leading Israeli researchers from the best universities around the world. The
Academic Director of the Conference was Prof. Roni Michaely.
ACADEMIC COURSE FOR COMPLIANCE OFFICERS
The Rothschild Caesarea Center, in conjunction with the Tel Aviv Stock
Exchange and the Bank of Israel, is, for the second year running, holding
a course for the training of Compliance Officers. Compliance Officers
constitute a leading factor in the implementation and enforcement of
directives of the law and the Articles of Association of the Stock Exchange
and the implementation of standard banking practices.
The course is being held in light of the success of the first graduating class
and in light of demand for the training of additional compliance officers in
the capital market. The course, a joint initiative of the Rothschild Caesarea
Center for Capital Markets, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and the Bank of
Israel, is aimed at training Compliance Officers in the financial industry.
Daphna Nissenbaum, the outgoing CEO of the Rothschild Caesarea
Center for Capital Markets and Risk Management, states that over the
past few years, the banks and Stock Exchange members that are not banks,
were required to draw up Compliance Programs and appoint Compliance
Officers. “The Compliance Units at international institutes have become
entities wielding great power and authority that consolidate all the means
of oversight and control. In Israel this process is in its infancy, but it appears
that in the near future, Compliance Officers will be appointed also in other
organizations that operate in the financial realm, whether as a result of
regulatory changes or due to independent resolutions taken by those same
bodies. This process will increase the demand for quality Compliance
Officers,” says Nissenbaum.
The academic coordinator of the course is Prof. Rafi Eldor, who obtained his
PhD in Economics from Harvard University and specialized in Financing at
MIT. Other lecturers in the course include: Ms. Esther Levanon, the CEO
of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Yossi Levy, Senior VP., the Manager of the
Members and Oversight Dept. of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and Tzuriel
Tamam, the Manager of the Institute’s Auditing and Evaluation Unit at the
Bank of Israel.
IDC Winter 2010 > 41