New DNRF Chair Awarded to Professor Niels Joachim Gormsen to Research the Link Between Financial Markets and the Economy
The Department of Finance and BIGFI are proud to announce that Professor Niels Joachim Gormsen has been awarded a prestigious DNRF Chair, starting September 1, 2025.
The grant, awarded by the Danish National Research Foundation (Danmarks Grundforskningsfond - DNRF), will support his research into the crucial role that financial markets play in our economy.
Professor Gormsen’s research focuses on the "cost of capital" – the cost firms must pay to raise money for new investments, such as building new factories or developing green technology. While the cost of capital is central to firm investment and the economy, it is hard to measure and often misunderstood. Gormsen’s research shows that companies assess and use their cost of capital differently than economic theory suggest. These deviations have broad implications for how firms invest, how they respond to economic policy, and how they engage with major societal challenges such as climate change.
Gormsen’s research also addresses another fundamental question: how stock markets react to changes in interest rates. Gormsen’s research shows that the answer depends on why interest rates change as well as whether firms make short- or long-term investments. Professor Gormsen’s team develops new methods for measuring and analyzing these questions, and find that the answers are crucial for understanding fluctuations in asset prices.
Ultimately, the project aims to uncover the mechanisms connecting capital markets, corporate decisions, and societal development. The goal is to create new fundamental knowledge about how the cost of capital and interest rates shape the economy and society.
The DNRF Chair is a funding instrument designed to help Danish universities attract and recruit outstanding international researchers to strengthen and enrich the Danish research environment.