Category: Recent Seminars

Date: 01 April 2026, Wednesday Time: 10.30 – 11.30 Place: MA-330 "Balancing Exploration and Exploitation: The Role of Intuition–Analysis Versatility and Paradoxical Leadership" by Amir Mehralian Exeter Abstract  While ambidexterity research has largely emphasized macro-level mechanisms, the micro-level foundations that allow employees to balance exploration and exploitation remain underdeveloped. Yet, because organizational ambidexterity ultimately emerges from employees’ ability to enact both activities, uncovering these micro-foundations is essential. Drawing on dual-system theory and the paradox perspective, we theorize that cognitive flexibility enables employees to enact ambidexterity through intuition–analysis versatility—cognitive strategies to switch between and integrate intuitive and analytic modes of processing. Moreover, paradoxical leadership serves as a crucial boundary condition that legitimizes and motivates cognitively flexible employees to deploy versatile cognitive strategies and translate them into ambidextrous behaviors. Evidence from a…

Date: 27 March 2026, Friday Time: 13.30 – 14.30 "AI for Economics and Finance" by Lin William Cong Cornell University https://zoom.us/j/8909487052?omn=96499682404 Meeting ID: 890 948 7052 Abstract I characterize modern AI development as featuring two core themes: (i) goal-oriented end-to-end optimization in large modelling space, and (ii) generative pre-trained foundational models that enable economic world models and AI agents. Combining the insights from both, I identify promising directions in AI for Social Science Research. To start, I introduce Goal-Oriented Algorithms in Large Space (GOALS) involving transformer-based reinforcement learning or panel trees, which are particularly suited for answering questions related to optimal decision-making and modelling grouped heterogeneity in social science research. In several specific financial applications, I show how GOALS can effectively and flexibly manage investment portfolios, generate test portfolios or latent factors for evaluating extant…

Date: 25 March 2026, Wednesday Time: 10.30 – 11.30 Place: MA-330 "What the future may hold: Market formation of Social AI through sociotechnical imaginaries" by Hafize Çelik University of Bath https://zoom.us/j/8909487052?omn=92074757718 Meeting ID: 890 948 7052 Abstract  Artificial Intelligence marketplace offers a diverse set of consumer experiences with social AI services such as personal assistantship (e.g., ChatGPT, Siri), synthetic companionship (e.g., Replika), service workforce (e.g., Pepper), and care giving services (e.g., Paro). However, similar social AI products have been imagined by science fiction movies for the last 100 years. Drawing on Jasanoff and Kim’s (2009) sociotechnical imaginaries lens and Sara Mills’ (1997) discourse analysis, this research analyses fifteen systematically selected science fiction movies depicting social AI to explore how science-fiction movies imagine the future(s) of social AI market(s) and why…

Date: 09 March 2026, Monday Time: 13.30 – 14.30 Place: MA-330 "Accuracy and uncertainty in venture selection: The roles of experience and complexity” by Thomas Astebro HEC Paris Abstract  Venture capitalists, business angels, funding agencies, and incubators evaluate ventures,a difficult task where decision uncertainty is high. We examine how the degree of cognitive complexity and human expertise affects judges’ admission recommendations at an incubator. Judges read an application, use preset criteria to score it, and form an intuitive overall judgment to accept or reject the application. We model and test how cognitive complexity and judge expertise affect this judgment through a Bayesian classification model, with implications on classification uncertainty and accuracy. Judges demonstrate poor accuracy in evaluating venture quality, but we show that the decision environment is so noisy that…

Date: 04 March 2026, Wednesday Time: 10.30 – 11.30 Place: MA-330 "The Accredited Investor Definition, Private Investments, and Wealth Inequality in the US” by Aras Canipek Columbia University & SAFE Abstract  I study household finances around the income eligibility rules of the accredited investor definition that allow only high-income households access to private investments. Such investments have recently been linked to higher returns and the increase in wealth inequality. My analysis shows that access to private markets increases private investments. The result provides an answer to an important question in the literature and in politics: differences in private investments are not only caused by differences in abilities and tastes between wealthy and poor households, but also simply by access to private investments. Moreover, I find discontinuities in wealth and returns.…

Date: 25 February 2026, Wednesday Time: 10.30 – 11.30 Place: MA-330 "From Harm to Harmony? Epistemic Dominance and the Practice of Moral Repair” by Jordi Vives IESE Abstract  The restoration of damaged stakeholder relationships after a transgression, “moral repair,” has become an important and visible corporate practice. Yet, business ethics research offers incomplete guidance on it, because although organizations are investing in moral repair, victims frequently report dissatisfaction. Critical scholars generally attribute these failures to systemic power, but tend to overlook organization level repair tactics. Integrating these perspectives, we examine how systemic power shapes moral repair. Drawing on a case study of corporate repair efforts after the 2012 Marikana massacre in South Africa, we show that enduring victim dissatisfaction arises from epistemic dominance, a form of hegemonic power rooted in…

Date: 20 February 2026, Wednesday Time: 13.30 – 14.30 Place: MA-330 "Supply chain risk management: Sharing information and exploring uncertainty" by Stefan Minner Technical University of Munih Abstract  Different sources of uncertainty and local information present major challenges in logistics and supply chain coordination. Effective distributed data-driven learning and decision making requires a balance between proactive and reactive exploration and exploitation as well as uncertainty modeling in dynamically changing environments. We discuss cooperative and competitive coordination schemes, different information sources and fusion concepts, digital technologies and strategies for effective information sharing and learning, and economic frameworks for information valuation.  Bio Stefan Minner is a Full Professor for Logistics and Supply Chain Management at the School of Management, Technical University of Munich (TUM) and a core-member of the Munich Data Science…

Date: 18 February 2026, Wednesday Time: 10.30 – 11.30 Place: MA-330 "Monetary Policy Shocks: A New Hope — Large Language Models and Central Bank Communication” by Ruben Fernandez Fuertes Bocconi University Abstract  I develop a multi-agent LLM framework that processes Federal Reserve communications to construct narrative monetary policy surprises. By analyzing Beige Books and Minutes released before each FOMC meeting, the system generates conditional expectations that yield less noisy surprises than market-based measures. These surprises produce theoretically consistent impulse responses where contractionary shocks generate persistent disinflationary effects, and enable profitable yield curve trading strategies that outperform alternatives. By directly extracting expectations rather than cleaning surprises ex post, this approach demonstrates how multi-agent LLMs can implement narrative identification at scale without contamination in high-frequency measure. Bio Rubén Fernández-Fuertes is a financial…

Date: 11 February 2026, Wednesday Time: 10.30 – 11.30 Place: MA-330 "Inflation Expectations and Firms' Decisions in High Inflation” by Okan Akarsu Sabancı University Abstract  We conducted a survey of Turkish firms, using randomized treatments to provide varied information about inflation in a high-inflation environment. By matching the survey data with administrative firm-level data on employment, sales, credit, and foreign exchange transactions, we explore the impact of exogenous variations in inflation expectations on firms' behavior, borrowing decisions, and expectations. Our findings are summarized in seven facts: (i) information treatments are effective at generating exogenous variation in inflation expectations, even when inflation is high; (ii) the pass-through to firms' own price, wage, and cost expectations is strong, reaching up to 60%; (iii) firms adopt a supply-side interpretation of inflation—lower inflation expectations…

Date: 4 February 2026, Wednesday Time: 10.30 – 11.30 Place: MA-330 "The Pricing and Economic Impact of Legal Risk" by Dean Ryu Saïd Business School – Oxford Abstract  Legal risk is an inherent feature of markets, rooted in the institutions that enable economic activity, yet it remains difficult to measure across firms. This paper constructs a text-based measure of firm-level legal risk (LRISK) using earnings call transcripts. LRISK predicts class action lawsuits and spikes during periods of heightened legal incidents. A one standard deviation increase predicts a 3–7% decline in future investment and lowers firms’ reliance on debt, consistent with precautionary motives. Legal risk is positively priced, particularly after 2010, and varies across legal origins, reflecting institutional differences. Bio Dean Ryu is a Finance Ph.D. Candidate at Said Business School,…