Seminar in Finance and Innovation

Following topics in Finance and Innovation are discussed:

- Employee Innovation
- Firm and Innovation
- Financial Innovation
- Political System and Innovation

The aim of this seminar is to develop a basic tool-set required for writing Bachelor thesis. Based on recent research in the area of Finance and Innovation, you will learn the structure of scientific thesis, purpose of literature review, delivery of hypothesis, identification methods, and rigor in delivering results. During the seminar, you will explore research designs (i.e. methods and statistics) which ensure that research is solid. In a short introduction I will explain the basics and put them into context by providing you with examples when things can go wrong.

With this knowledge, you will be able to evaluate research articles with respect to their methodological quality. Also, this course prepares you to design and perform your own research, i.e. in form of Bachelor thesis.

In this seminar the workload is high and you can expect that writing and preparing your essay will occupy much of your time.

This seminar is capped at 30 students.

Employee Innovation1. Bernstein, Shai, Timothy James McQuade, and Richard R. Townsend (2017). Does Economic Insecurity Affect Employee Innovation?. Working Paper.2. Bradley, Daniel, Incheol Kim, and Xuan Tian (2017). Do Unions Affect Innovation?. Management Science 63, 2251-2271.3. Jaravel, Xavier, Neviana Petkova, and Alex Bell (2018). Team-Specific Capital andInnovation. American Economic Review 108, 1034-73. Firm and Innovation4. Emerick, Kyle, Alain de Janvry, Elisabeth Sadoulet, and Manzoor H. Dar (2016). Technological Innovations, Downside Risk, and the Modernization of Agriculture. American Economic Review 106, 1537-61.5. Hirshleifer, David, Po-Hsuan Hsu, and Dongmei Li (2018). Innovative Originality, Profitability, and Stock Returns. The Review of Financial Studies 7, 2553-2605.6. Hombert, Johan, and Adrien Matray (2017). The Real Effects of Lending Relationships on Innovative Firms and Inventor Mobility. The Review of Financial Studies 7, 2413-2445.7. Hombert, Johan, and Adrien Matray (2018). Can Innovation Help U.S. Manufacturing Firms Escape Import Competition from China?. The Journal of Finance 73, 2003-2039.Financial Innovation8. Balyuk, Tetyana (2018). Financial Innovation and Borrowers: Evidence from Peer-to-Peer Lending. Working Paper.9. Lin, Tse-Chun, and Vesa Pursiainen (2018). Gender Differences in Reward-Based Crowdfunding. Working Paper.10. Tang, Huan (2018). Peer-to-Peer Lenders versus Banks: Substitutes or Complements?. Working Paper.Political System and Innovation11. Donges, Alexander, Jean-Marie A. Meier, and Rui C. Silva (2018). The Impact of Institutions on Innovation. Working Paper.12. Fang, Lily H., Josh Lerner, and Chaopeng Wu (2017). Intellectual Property Rights Protection, Ownership, and Innovation: Evidence from China. The Review of Financial Studies 7, 2446-2477.13. Mukherjee, Abhiroop, Manpreet Singh, and Alminas Žaldokas (2017). Do corporate taxes hinder innovation?. Journal of Financial Economics 124, 195-221.14. Pérignon, Christophe, Boris Vallée (2017). The Political Economy of Financial Innovation: Evidence from Local Governments. The Review of Financial Studies 30, 1903-1934.

Lecture / Presentations / Discussions

Your final grade will be based on a seminar essay and its presentation, as follows:
-Seminar essay 70%
-Presentation of the seminar essay: 25%
-Participation in the discussion: 5%

Seminar essay:
-The essay reviews the internal validity of one of the research articles that you choose from the Reference list. Your essay will include: introduction, methodology, data, findings, and your critical evaluation of the article. If the research article that you choose does not contain methodology or data section, you are not required to include it in your essay.
-Seminar essay is to be prepared individually and must represent only your own work. Be aware: I will check your essay for plagiarism and I will not tolerate any dishonesty.
-The essay should be between 5 and 7 pages excluding tables, graphs, and bibliography. The maximum number of 7 pages must be respected, otherwise the I may decide to correct only the first 7 pages.
- While writing your essay, please use the following formatting:
--Font: Times New Roman 11 pt.;
--Double-spacing;
--Page margins: 1 inch on the sides and 1.5 inch top and bottom;
--Please make sure the paragraphs are indent;
--Please do not leave a separate title page. Your essay should start immediately below the essay's title and your name;
-- Bibliography should start on a new page.

- Among others I will evaluate the clarity in identifying the question; your explanation on why it is an important topic; your research into the existing evidence; your critical evaluation; originality of your contribution; visibility of your contribution; scientific approach (scope of the topic, no superfluous content); structure (logical structure, common thread); logic of arguments (choice and motivation of arguments, illustrations, applications); formal quality of written essay (quality of references, journals); clarity of written descriptions (style, orthography, precision of illustration).
-You will have about 5 weeks to prepare your essay. Tentatively the deadline for submitting the essay is Friday, 01.03.2019 midnight CET. Should the final thesis not be submitted before the deadline, it will be given a mark of 5.0.

Presentation of the seminar essay:
-During the last session (tentatively scheduled on Wednesday, 13.03.2019 from 11:30 am), you will have between 15 and 30 minutes to present your seminar essay. The time available for your presentation will depend on the number of students enrolled in the seminar and it will be communicated at a later date. This time slot includes a 3 to 5 minutes Q&A session.
-Among others I will evaluate the originality of your contribution; visibility / clarity of your contribution; structure and logic (i.e. structure of your presentation, clarity of slides, clarity of your verbal descriptions); formal quality (i.e. timing, your demeanor); and your performance during the Q&A session.

Participation in the discussion:
- During the last session, your participation will be evaluated.
-You are expected to listen and ask relevant questions.
-I will also evaluate your demeanor and if you communicate your questions with respect.

I repeat: in this seminar the workload is high and you can expect that writing and preparing your essay will occupy much of your time.

Statistics, internet connection, motivation.

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