Written by Jaclyn Einstein, SFS, June 2026
Photo Credit: Andrew Shurtleff Photography, LLC
The 16th annual SFS Cavalcade North America conference took place May 18-21, 2026. The Darden School of Business, University of Virginia, served as the Cavalcade’s first ever repeat host, having previously hosted in 2012.
The Society for Financial Studies expresses our gratitude to our host faculty sponsor, Marc Lipson, to Shannon Diminick of Diminick Event Design, and to Laura Stamp and the team at Darden.
Receptions were generously sponsored by Cornerstone Research and the Mayo Center for Asset Management.
The program was selected by Chair Joshua D. Rauh (Stanford Graduate School of Business), Vice Chair Stefano Giglio (Yale School of Management), and Associate Chair Stavros Panageas (UCLA Anderson). Over the course of 3 days, 144 papers were presented, covering a wide variety of topics including climate finance, fintech and AI, and monetary policy. Reviews from the over 600 program committee members helped the Chairs consider the nearly 1500 submissions.
The SFS Membership Meeting took place on Tuesday at lunch. Marc Lipson introduced Darden’s interim Dean, Mike Lenox, who welcomed the attendees, followed by presentations by SFS President Phil Strahan and SFS Treasurer Laura Field.
The Executive Editors of The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, and The Review of Financial Studies, gave insight into the past year at their journals and upcoming plans. The Executive Editors are Tarun Ramadorai (RFS), Isil Erel (RCFS), and Zhiguo He (RAPS).
The editors then presented the annual journal awards. Isil Erel was joined by her RCFS co-editor, Tony Cookson.
The Review of Asset Pricing Studies
Best Paper Award: “Priority Rules, Internalization, and Payment for Order Flow” by Hans Degryse and Nikolaos Karagiannis
Referee of the Year: Andrei Goncalves
Rising Scholar Award: “Asset Pricing in the Information Age: Employee Expectations and Stock Returns” by Jinfei Sheng
The Review of Corporate Finance Studies
Best Paper Award: “Human Capital Reallocation across Firms: Evidence from Idiosyncratic Shocks” by Erik P Gilje, Jérôme P Taillard, and Linghang Zeng
Referee of the Year: Umit Gurun
Best Registered Report: “Generative AI’s Impact on Student Achievement and Implications for Worker Productivity” by Sarit Weisburd, Naomi Hausman, and Oren Rigbi
Elena Loutskina, Giorgia Piacentino, and Adriano Rampini were present at the Cavalcade to receive their RCFS Retiring Associate Editor plaques.
The Review of Financial Studies
Michael J. Brennan Best Paper Award: “In Safe Hands: The Financial and Real Impact of Investor Composition over the Credit Cycle” by Antonio Coppola
Michael J. Brennan Best Paper Runner Up: “Gold’s value as an investment” by Urban J. Jermann
Referee of the Year: Marco Giacoletti
Distinguished Referees: Julia Fonseca, Peter Maxted, Magdalena Rola-Janicka, Sang Byung Seo, Enrique Schroth, Qifei Zhu
Rising Scholar Award, sponsored by The Bureau: “The Fed and the Secular Decline in Interest Rates” by Sebastian Hillenbrand
The Presidential Address and RAPS & RCFS Keynote on Tuesday afternoon was presented by former SFS President Janice C. Eberly (Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University), with an introduction by SFS Council Chair Jonathan Karpoff (University of Washington). Jan’s keynote was on Foundations for Intangible Capital.
On Wednesday, Cavalcade Chair Joshua D. Rauh presented his keynote, Pension Finance in Theory and Practice, with an introduction by Vice Chair Stefano Giglio.
The Chairs announced the winners of the Cavalcade awards at Wednesday’s lunch. Jun Wang was present from WRDS, which sponsored two of the awards.
Best Paper in Asset Pricing, sponsored by Wharton Research Data Services: “A Bound on Price Impact and Disagreement” by Philippe van der Beck, Lorenzo Bretscher, and Julie Zhiyu Fu
Best Paper in Corporate Finance, sponsored by Wharton Research Data Services: “Monetary Policy and Investment Plans” by Julia Selgrad and Kerry Siani
Arthur Warga Award for Best Paper in Fixed Income: “Deposit Competition Beyond Rates” by Matteo Benetton, Ben Hebert, and Tim McQuade
PhD Student Grants
Federico Bastianello (London Business School)
Leonie Bräuer (University of Geneva and Swiss Finance Institute)
Shikun Barry Ke (Yale School of Management)
Blake Jackson (University of Florida)
Andrea Pagliuca (London Business School)
Rong Wang (Duke University)
Chi Clara Xu (Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania)
Tiange Ye (USC Marshall)
On Wednesday afternoon, a Plenary Panel Session on US Treasury Debt and Fiscal Sustainability was moderated by Joshua Rauh. The featured speakers were Andrew Abel (University of Pennsylvania), Michael Faulkender (University of Maryland), Deborah Lucas (MIT), and Zhengyang Jiang (Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University).
The next Cavalcade North America conferences will be held:
May 18-21, 2027, Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame
May 23-25, 2028, Carroll School of Management, Boston College.
More Photos from the Cavalcade
Welcome Reception, presented by Cornerstone Research
Reception following the Presidential Address and RAPS & RCFS Keynote
Reception, sponsored by Mayo Center for Asset Management
And more!
