Report 2001: Department of Finance (FI)
Solbjerg Plads 3
DK-2000 Frederiksberg
Head of Department: Niels Chr. Nielsen Telefon: +45 3815 3615
Fax: +45 3815 3600
E-mail: ia.fi@cbs.dk
DK-2000 Frederiksberg
Head of Department: Niels Chr. Nielsen Telefon: +45 3815 3615
Fax: +45 3815 3600
E-mail: ia.fi@cbs.dk
Research Areas
The two main research fields of the Department of Finance are "Corporate Finance" and "Financial Markets and Asset Pricing". Furthermore, "Insurance and Risk Management" is being re-established.
- Corporate Finance and International Corporate Finance
The focus here is on the financial decisions from the point of view of the company and its owners, in a national and an international context. - Financial markets and Asset Pricing
The focus here is on the financial decisions from the investor's point of view and on price formation in the financial markets. - Risk management and insurance
It is planned to re-establish activities in this field when the necessary resources, mainly well qualified researchers, can be attracted.
The Danish Social Science Research Council has funded a four-year grant to a network in mathematical finance. The Department of Finance participates in this network together with the universities of Odense, Århus and Copenhagen.
In addition, an interdisciplinary "Center for Law, Economics and Financial Institutions" is being established at Department of Finance.
It is the ambition of the Department that the results of its research is published in acknowledged international periodicals and in central Danish research publications. The Department has as its goal to be an acknowledged and utilized international partner, and to have a leading role in production of financial knowledge in Denmark. It is emphasized, that the Department in its research and production of scientific results in a Danish context is addressing significant and relevant issues.
In recent years, research results have, among others, been published in European Economic Review, European Financial Management, Journal of Economic Surveys, Review of Derivatives Research, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Economics Letters, Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Ekonomiska Samfundets Tidskrift, European Mortgage Review, Erhvervsøkonomisk Tidsskrift, Samfundsøkonomen, Nationaløkonomist Tidsskrift, Finans/Invest, Finans & Samfund, Ugeskrift for Retsvæsen, Nordisk Tidsskrift for Selskabsret and Juristen.
In 2001 one doctoral dissertation "Money and Natural Unemployment" was submitted and accepted for public defence. Three PhD dissertations were submitted for assessment. One of these "Corporate Finance" (eleven articles on capital structure, capital expenses, distribution policies, tax system, valuation and the Danish capital market) was successfully defended and approved in December 2001.
A strong research motivation among the faculty is essential. Doing good research in core finance requires high technical competence and a broad and profound understanding of economics, besides an extensive knowledge of the discipline itself. Thus, a high quality PhD programme is essential.
It is difficult to attract good researchers. The market is very competitive. In addition, there is a heavy demand for persons with good research potentialities from the financial sector.
Internationalisation is essential to the Department. All PhD students are spending at least six months at a respected international university in their field (recently Bonn, Columbia, Berkeley, Wharton). Furthermore, almost all assistant professors have spent at least one year at a recognised international university prior to their employment at the Department (e.g. Southampton, Wharton, UCLA, MIT, Stern School of Business, New York University). Also when employment has occurred on higher than assistant professor level, the background has been a comprehensive experience from the international research environment. Three of the recently appointed assistant professors had international PhD degrees (Southampton, New York University and Princeton).
The Department has internal seminars. These presentations include projects near completion as well as projects under consideration.
The Department of Finance is an active participant in PhD education, mainly as a collaborator in the Danish Doctoral Educational Network in Finance. In 2001, the Department had a total of five PhD students, the highest number ever. During the year, a number of visiting PhD students from other universities - Gothenburg School of Economics, Sweden, and University of Southern Denmark - spent time at the Department.
One of our PhD students was a visiting scholar at Hamburg University, Germany, as well as at UC, Berkeley, USA.
The PhD programme has close contact to the business community. Two PhD students are fully or partly financed from external resources.
As in previous years, the Department has organized or co-organized several conferences and workshops: "5th Nordic Symposium on Contingent Claims Analysis" in Stockholm, "EVA Conference" arranged by The Danish Society of Financial Analysts in Copenhagen, "PhD workshop in Finance" in Nyborg and "Developments in Value Based Management" at Copenhagen Business School.
Members of the faculty have also worked as editors and referees for national and international scientific journals, such as; Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Management Science, Review of Economic Studies, European Finance Association, European Finance Review, European Financial Management, Finance India, Emerging Markets Review, Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organization, Journal of International Financial Management and Accounting, Finance/Invest and Cambridge University Press.
Similarly, faculty members have participated as board members of research foundations and have been actively involved in economic and financial associations.
It is essential for the Department to have good interaction with the financial community as well as with the international research environment. This contact is, foremost, achieved by participating in international academic conferences and workshops as well as by visits of longer or shorter duration from international researchers.
During 2001 there has been a number of research presentations by visitors from: Danske Bank, Group Treasury; Danmarks Nationalbank; New York University, Stern School of Business; Graduate School of Management, University of California; University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business; School of Business, Stockholm University; Department of Finance, IESE Business School, Spain; Indian Statistic Institute, Delhi Centre and SERFA; The McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University; Economics Department, Princeton University; University of Amsterdam; Københavns Universitet; IGIER-Universitá Bocconi, Italy; European Central Bank; Lund Universitet; London Business School and Norwegian School of Management.
Last updated by Anders Krag 27/01/2005
