Leading academics from Yale and London School of Economics will join counterparts from Australian universities and funds management practitioners in the second annual Capital Market Dysfunctionality Conference in Sydney.
The conference, to be held at the University of Technology Sydney, October 1-2, is being overseen by Professor Ron Bird, of UTS, who heads up the Australian centre of the London-based Paul Woolley Centre for Capital Market Dysfunctionality. The other universities in the network are LSE and Toulouse University. Paul Woolley, a former funds manager with Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo, established the centre in 2006 with a substantial grant to undertake new research on the efficiency of markets in general and the value or impact of funds managers on the markets in particular. Professor Bird, also a former funds manager and asset consultant, said the conference would attempt to present a balanced view of the latest thinking on capital markets. He said the first day was slightly more general and accessible to industry practitioners – funds managers, consultants and fund investment staff – while the second day was more academic. Keynote speakers include: Professor Nicholas Barberis of Yale University, Professor Dimitri Vayanos and Dr Paul Woolley of LSE, Dr Robert Eisenbeis, former head of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and Professor Ian Harper, of the Melbourne Business School. Attendance is by invitation however industry practitioners who would like to attend can contact Yvonne Gray at UTS: Yvonne.gray@uts.edu.au
There is one investment area where Insignia’s $180 billion super arm has not lost money for the past 17 years, which is what it calls the insurance-related investments. The alternatives strategy is gaining popularity among asset owners due to its diversification benefit, but Insignia’s super and asset management investment chief Dan Farmer warns it is a space where investors can suffer if they “stumble in without doing the homework”.
Darcy SongJanuary 23, 2025
