2026 Firms’ Cost of Capital, Discount Rates, and Investment Conference
Rising inflation, changes in interest rates, and fluctuations in equity markets should in theory affect the cost of capital, corporate discount rates, and ultimately investment. Research discussed at this conference shed light on these channels.
PHOTO GALLERY
Agenda
Welcome Lunch
Welcome and Opening Remarks
Kilian Huber, University of Chicago
HANK’s Response to Aggregate Uncertainty in an Estimated Business Cycle Model
Speaker: Martin Schneider, Stanford University
Session Chair: Stefan Nagel, University of Chicago
Break
Set in Stone: The Persistence and Origins of Corporate Culture
Speaker: Kai Li, University of British Columbia
Session Chair: Virginia Minni, University of Chicago
Break
Climate Risk Pricing
Speaker: Nicolae Garleanu, Washington University
Session Chair: François Gourio, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Break
Policy Uncertainty, Financial Conditions and Macroeconomic Outcomes
Speaker: Simon Gilchrist, New York University
Session Chair: Walker Ray, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Harper Center C05
Conference Concludes
Conference Dinner
By invitation only
Breakfast
Welcome and Opening Remarks
Niels Gormsen, Copenhagen Business School / University of Chicago
Firms’ Discount Rates and Investment
Speaker: Kilian Huber, University of Chicago
Break
Financial Dominance of Monetary Policy
Speaker: Viral Acharya, New York University
Session Chair: Anil Kashyap, University of Chicago
Break
How Monetary Policy Affects Investment: The Information Effect versus the Discount Rate Channel
Speaker: Wei Xiong, Princeton University
Session Chair: Taisiya Sikorskaya, University of Chicago
Lunch
Room 219
(Why) Have Financial Markets Become More Volatile? The Role of Market Index Trading
Speaker: Tyler Muir, University of California, Los Angeles
Session Chair: Lubos Pastor, University of Chicago
Break
Categorical Thinking about Interest Rates
Speaker: Kelly Shue, Yale University
Session Chair: Raghuram Rajan, University of Chicago