Graduate Students

Spring Finance Workshop 2025

admin — Mon, 12 May 2025 16:30:37 +0000

The fourth edition of the Spring Finance Workshop took place from April 27 to 29, 2025, bringing together top scholars in the field of finance to explore emerging themes across banking, investor expectations, climate finance, asset pricing, and corporate decision-making. Co-organized by Professors Laurent Barras (University of Luxembourg), Mark Podolskij (University of Luxembourg), and Patrick Augustin (��), the workshop continues to grow as a vibrant forum for academic exchange and collaboration.

Infrastructure banks can help get large infrastructure projects off the ground

admin — Wed, 28 May 2025 19:31:22 +0000

In Canada, investment in infrastructure has lagged, but infrastructure banks are one way to provide financing for large-scale infrastructure projects that could take decades to pay off. “Canada needs new infrastructure – housing, energy, ports – it’s all critical to our future,” says Prof. Sebastien Betermier. “But there’s a catch-22: developers can’t move forward without financing, and investors are wary of early-stage risk.

MMF ranked #1 in North America by Financial Times

admin — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 13:05:47 +0000

The �� Master of Management in Finance (MMF) has placed on the 2025 Financial Times (FT) (pre-experience) Masters in Finance rankings list, coming in 38th out of 70 schools globally.

Money lessons from Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens still ring true today

admin — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 19:48:09 +0000

Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens is a riches to rags story. Its wealthy title character squanders his money on opportunistic ‘friends’ and grows jaded with the world.

�� Personal Financial Essentials course is basis for Cayman Islands financial literacy initiative

admin — Mon, 04 Aug 2025 17:47:58 +0000

Twenty-eight young people in the Cayman Islands recently became the first group to complete the British Overseas Territory’s Youth Financial Literacy Programme. The government sponsored program prepares youth for real-world financial challenges and opportunities—and it is centered on the �� Personal Financial Essentials course. The three-hour version of the course teaches youth budgeting, investing and retirement planning.

Punitive tariffs more about political leverage than trade

admin — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 13:14:37 +0000

On August 1, a 35 per cent US tariff on Canadian goods came into effect. But these tariffs are less about trade and more about political leverage, says Vivek Astvansh, associate professor of quantitative marketing and analytics at �� Desautels.

Maxime Cohen named to world’s most cited researcher list for third straight year

admin — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 16:03:52 +0000

Each year, Stanford University and the academic publishing company Elsevier celebrate the world’s most influential researchers with its top 2% list, which identifies the researchers who are most widely cited in their field. For the third year in a row, Maxime Cohen was among them. The Professor of Retail and Operations Management was recognized for being one of the most cited authors two fields: Business & Management and Operations Research subfields.

Poets & Quants names Montreal one of the best cities to study for a MBA

admin — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 19:39:29 +0000

You can do an MBA in hundreds of cities around the world, but Montreal is among the best, according to Poets & Quants. But what makes the city such a good place to study? It’s Montreal’s unique energy, according to Kai Zhao (MBA’25). “Montreal blends history, culture and an incredible food scene with a vibrant student community,” says Zhao. “It also has a thriving business community that is home to both innovative start-ups and major companies like Bombardier, Desjardins and Ubisoft.”

�� to award honorary degree to Don Lewtas for contributions to global finance & student learning

admin — Wed, 07 May 2025 15:37:05 +0000

�� will award an honorary degree to Donald William Lewtas (BCom’75), a �� alumnus, at the �� Desautels Faculty of Management convocation this spring.

Lewtas will receive a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa (LL.D.), in recognition of his leadership in global finance and his support for hands-on education at the faculty.

Hamid Etemad earns global recognition

admin — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 17:13:49 +0000

Hamid Etemad has been named a 2024 Top Scholar by Scholar GPS. Over a long and distinguished career, the Associate Professor of Marketing has been recognized for his excellence in teaching and research, Scholar GPS recognized Etemad as being in the top 0.5% of scholars in his field. Etemad’s research has probed the role of technology in business and its impact in emerging market economies.

Tariff loophole fuelling Canadian warehouse sector

admin — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 18:38:07 +0000

Tariffs drive up prices for businesses, but some companies are finding a creative loophole to avoid some US tariffs. When a company imports a tariffed good, it pays a tariff. But it doesn’t pay a tariff if the goods are only passing through on the way to a final destination. This creates an incentive for US companies to store inventory in Canada. They can park products here until they sell them, and only pay tariffs on goods that are actually bound for the US market.

Donald Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ does away with de minimis exemption for impots from all countries

admin — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 17:10:02 +0000

The de minimis exemption has played a major role in the rise of Chinese fast fashion brands like Shein and Temu. The exemption works like this: if an imported good has a value of less than $800, it is exempt from tariffs. The loophole has been around since the 1930s, but in recent years, it has given e-commerce brands that ship many smaller orders an advantage. “A retailer like Wal-Mart buys in bulk, and imports are much more than $800, so they pay tariffs,” Prof.

Despite rise of chatbots, people still prefer human customer services

admin — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 15:19:43 +0000

Until recently, the most common way that customers interacted with a company’s customer service was via human agents on the telephone, the web or a mobile app. But increasingly, customer service is being provided by chatbots. Even though chatbots offer instant availability, 24 hours a day, more than two-thirds of people still prefer to speak with a human agent, according to research by PWC, an accounting consultancy. Most companies use chatbots as the first line of customer service, writes Prof.

Reimagining legal frameworks for sustainability: The 2025 TBLSA Impact Paper

admin — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 18:56:20 +0000

Earlier this summer, from May 4th through May 9th, ��’s Sustainable Growth Initiative (SGI) and Faculty of Law co-organised the 2025 �� SGI Transformative Business Law Summer Academy (TBLSA).

Rebranding of DEI initiatives is a reactive response to external pressures

admin — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 19:45:44 +0000

The pushback against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs gained momentum in the first half of 2025. And while some institutions are eliminating DEI initiatives, others are rebranding them.