Research Only: How Academic Tourism Went Online and Why Scholars Like It
On October 23 – 24, 2020, the IX International Moscow Finance Conference will take place. The event has been organized jointly by ICEF and the London School of Economics. This year, the list of participants includes the editors of the two biggest journals in economics. Alexei Boulatov, Tenured Professor of HSE University, spoke about how the online format influenced the quality of academic events, what has changed in academic life over the last few months, and the topics that interest researchers today.
Why the Conference Is Not Following the Current Trend
The conference organizing committee, which includes me, ICEF Associate Professor Vladimir Sokolov, and LSE Professor Christian Julliard, hasn’t had any disagreements on this from the very beginning. We don’t believe that the news agenda or global trends can determine the focus of fundamental research. That’s why our conference is not about COVID-19, and one shouldn’t expect it to react to what is happening in the world right now.
Academic thought develops according to its own logic, which does not depend on any trends. That’s why our first aim as we were compiling the conference programme was to invite strong researchers from different areas of financial economics – corporate finance and asset valuation – in empirical and theoretical studies.
And we have succeeded. This year, our speakers are very interesting and authoritative: they have taken an interest in ICEF as a young and growing academic community. The conference’s transition to online mode has also played a selective role of sorts in terms of participants.
How the Online Format Became a Quality Factor
A conference traditionally includes air travel, introduction to the university, excursions, and lunches. Academic tourism has always been a part of the academic community, even a favourite part for some. Today, conferences are no longer a source of entertainment but are focused exclusively on research instead.
I believe that those who remain academically active are our target audience. Such ‘selection’ has improved the event quality considerably: our participants are outstanding academics for whom interaction with the ICEF academic community has turned out to be most important thing.
Vladimir Sokolov, ICEF Associate Professor, member of the conference organizing committee
Our conference’s reputation has played a major role in our ability to attract such outstanding speakers. Despite its ‘low-key’ character, the ICEF International Conference in Financial Economics is a special event in academia, and many of the papers presented at it are later published in top academic journals.
Over the two days, we’ll have presentations by very influential scholars from USA and Europe, as well as two colleagues from ICEF: Sylvain Carré and Dmitry Makarov. Due to the time difference, we had to reduce the programme so that the conference doesn’t take place at night. Many of our colleagues will take part as discussants, which is also a very important option for gaining feedback and ensuring the success of future papers by our participants.
Unexpectedly enough, we are focusing on banking this year: about 80% of our time will be spent discussing banking-related issues. Academic understanding of the processes is taking place fundamentally, and the consequences of the 2008 crisis are still being actively researched. The phenomenon of the current crisis will be explained by scholars years later. The mechanism of financial institutions’ impact on the real sector is not yet completely understood, and I believe that we’ll shed some light on it at the conference.
The online format, undoubtedly, has its shortcomings: the university as a real place with its unique atmosphere and people who aren’t participating in the conference but who are nevertheless an important part of the research community are literally left off the screen. In the future, we’ll attempt to combine formats, since the social aspect is extremely important: offline events already have a certain culture, traditions, even a code of conduct, which has already become part of the academic environment.
What to Expect from the Conference
Participants will present their most recent research and share the ideas they are working on. It has been a pleasure to notice how ICEF is able to attract some really outstanding people and has built a really strong network in the academic community.
The conference programme includes at least two editors of top academic journals in financial economics: Toni Whited from the Journal of Financial Economics and Itay Goldstein from the Review of Financial Studies. Christopher Hennessy from the Review of Financial Studies recently spoke at ICEF, but unfortunately he won’t make it to this year’s conference.
My research interest is financial market microstructure, and I will be particularly interested in the presentation by Haoxiang Zhu, MIT Sloan School of Management, a young speaker in this field who we have been looking forward to hearing at conference for a few years. Among other things, he is studying high frequency trading – and this topic is highly relevant today.
Along with ICEF researchers Sylvain Carré and Vincent Fardeau, we are looking into this phenomenon: our assumption is that in trading information is not as important as liquidity. Unlike Zhu, we’ve taken the path of analysing high-frequency trading algorithms from the perspective of their optimal operation speed. In addition, I work with financial industry professionals, such as BlackRock: for me, such connections are essential in research. By the way, many of these professionals are former physicists, such as one of my co-authors, so we speak the same language.
How the Lockdown Has Changed the Way Scholars Work
Since all research work is built on communications between co-authors, the last few months have undoubtedly had a negative effect. In addition, it is a challenge for many to live and carry out research in one place, in one environment. Over the long term, these months will have a certain effect, but today, many scholars feel a sense of euphoria because they are able to participate in three conferences in a week. However, nothing can replace human communication with real exchange of energy and emotions.
It’s time to invent new ways to conduct convenient, but safe discussions
Communications and the ways to deal with time have changed in society at large, and not just in the academic community: professional events are held in more effective and user-friendly formats. Time is particularly valuable for researchers, and a new ‘product’ is necessary for their personal interaction. Like everything in the world, even academic conferences are expecting modernization
See also:
HSE Economist Finds Way to Improve Efficiency of Stock Market Trading Strategies
An economist at HSE University has analysed possible trading strategies on the stock market and shown that investors can achieve higher returns if they determine the size of their trades based on the degree of intraday fluctuations in asset prices. When the key interest rate is high, the advantage of this strategy over a conventional one increases 4.7-fold. The study has been published in the journal Enterprise Development and Microfinance.
‘I Dream of Simple Things’
Anastasia Gergenreter specialises in applied statistics and econometrics. In this interview for the Young Scientists of HSE University project, she talked about why she studies addictive substance use, two very different Fishers, and the cherry blossom season at the Main Botanical Garden in Moscow.
Economists Propose More Effective Approach to Reducing Smoking
Economists at HSE University have examined how smokers respond to changes in cigarette prices. When tobacco prices increase, cigarette consumption does not always decline. In fact, spending on tobacco may even rise: according to the researchers, a 1% decrease in cigarette affordability leads to a 0.28% increase in per capita tobacco expenditure. The findings suggest that to reduce smoking rates, tobacco prices must rise faster than household incomes. The study has been published in Voprosy Statistiki.
HSE Economists Use Search Queries to Forecast Birth Rates
Researchers from the HSE Faculty of Economic Sciences have shown that the accuracy of birth rate forecasts for Russia can be improved by almost 50% by incorporating the dynamics of online search queries related to pregnancy and childbirth into forecasting models. In the best-performing models, the forecasting error fell from 4.6% to 3.2%. The findings have been published in Populations and Economics.
Experiments in Economics
Why simulate an auction? How do experiments in economics differ from those in psychology? Assistant Professor Alexander Usvitskiy, Head of the Laboratory for Experimental Economics and Finance, discusses the laboratory's activities and research approaches.
When Circumstances Are Stronger Than Habits: How Financial Stress Affects Smoking Cessation
HSE researchers have found that the likelihood of quitting smoking rises with increasing financial struggles. While low levels of financial difficulties do not affect smoking behaviour, moderate financial stress can increase the probability of quitting by 13% to 21%. Responses to high financial stress differ by gender: men are almost 1.5 times more likely to give up cigarettes than under normal conditions, whereas no significant effect is observed on women’s decisions to quit smoking. These conclusions are based on data from the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS-HSE) for 2000–2023 and have been published in Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes.
‘Sometimes a Student’s Question Will Spark a New Angle on a Problem I’ve Been Working on’
Nicolas Lagios joined the International College of Economics and Finance (ICEF) at HSE University–Moscow as an assistant professor in 2025. He holds a Master’s and a PhD in Economics and his research interests include political economy, cultural economics, and applied economics. In this interview, Nicolas talks about the qualities that make HSE students exceptional, the overlap between organisational psychology and his research, and why Moscow strikes the ideal work–life balance.
AI Overestimates How Smart People Are, According to HSE Economists
Scientists at HSE University have found that current AI models, including ChatGPT and Claude, tend to overestimate the rationality of their human opponents—whether first-year undergraduate students or experienced scientists—in strategic thinking games, such as the Keynesian beauty contest. While these models attempt to predict human behaviour, they often end up playing 'too smart' and losing because they assume a higher level of logic in people than is actually present. The study has been published in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization.
Banking Crises Drive Biodiversity Loss
Economists from HSE University, MGIMO University, and Bocconi University have found that financial crises have a significant negative impact on biodiversity and the environment. This relationship appears to be bi-directional: as global biodiversity declines, the likelihood of new crises increases. The study examines the status of populations encompassing thousands of species worldwide over the past 50 years. The article has been published in Economics Letters, an international journal.
‘Teaching Is a Learning Experience for Me—Every Question Is an Opportunity to Update My Lecture Material’
Kemal Kivanc Akoz is an Assistant Professor of the Department of Theoretical Economics at the Faculty of Economic Sciences. He has been at HSE University for six years and his current activities include research into marriage market dynamics and information agreements among groups of agents. In this interview with the HSE News Service, Kemal talks about the subjects of his research, the teaching approach that led to him being named one of the university’s Best Teachers, his favourite places to get a coffee in Moscow, and more.