Forum Celebrates 35th Anniversary of Groundbreaking Research That Lead to Growth of $600 Trillion Derivatives Industry
October 16, 2008
Media Contact: Scott Addison
Public Relations | Gabbe Group
(212) 220-4444 | scott.addison@gabbe.com
Financial market leaders and researchers have gathered this week for the first-ever Conference on Financial Innovation, hosted by the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management. The forum is focusing on such timely topics as volatility, real estate, credit and stock index option markets, as well as real options and share-based compensation contracts, and assessing the evolution of financial innovation over the past 35 years and exploring what may lie ahead.
The conference – taking place on October 16 and 17 – commemorates the 35th anniversary of the publication of two landmark financial studies – “The Pricing of Options and Corporate Liabilities” by Fischer Black and Myron Scholes, and “The Theory of Rational Option Pricing” by Robert C. Merton. Originally published in 1973 when options were considered specialized and economically insignificant financial instruments, these two seminal works had an unprecedented influence and came to underlie almost every facet of the theory and practice of modern-day finance. In 1997, they were awarded the Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for their work. In addition, they are credited with sparking the growth of derivatives markets, whose notional value now exceeds $600 trillion.
“More than three decades later, we are reminded of the critical relevancy of these pioneering works and how far the ripples of innovation can spread and influence future events,” said Robert E. Whaley, Valere Blair Potter Professor of Management and co-director of the Financial Markets Research Center at the Owen School.
Participating in the conference are finance and economics faculty from more than forty universities worldwide including the University of Chicago, UCLA, NYU, Harvard, UC Berkeley, Columbia and Vanderbilt. Offering the event’s keynote address is CME Group Chairman Emeritus Leo Melamed, who is widely recognized as the founder of the financial futures markets and created the International Monetary Market (IMM) in 1972. In addition, Myron Scholes and Robert Merton will participate in a special Thursday afternoon panel that focuses on the direction of financial innovation in the next decade.
“Given the unprecedented financial market volatility and its links to derivative instruments, this new forum and its focus on the derivatives markets couldn’t be more timely,” said Whaley. “The collective insights of academics and practitioners will prove invaluable as we seek to better understand the past, present and future of financial innovation and its impact on the global financial marketplace.”
The 2008 Conference on Financial Innovation is sponsored by the Chicago Board Options Exchange, CME Group, Options Industry Council and Susquehanna International Group, LLC, and by the Vanderbilt University Law School, which is providing facilities for the event.
Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management is ranked as a top institution by BusinessWeek, the Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, Financial Times and Forbes. For more information about Owen, visit www.owen.vanderbilt.edu.
