ECGI Conversation Series

The 2026 ECGI Finance Prize sponsored by WRDS has been awarded to Jason Chen (Auburn University), Jakub Hajda (HEC Montréal) and Joseph Kalmenovitz (University of Rochester) for their paper, “Escaping Pay-for-Performance” (ECGI Finance Working Paper 1055/2025). Finance Series Editor, Nadya Malenko (Boston College and ECGI), interviews one of the winning authors, Joseph Kalmenovitz (University of Rochester), on their prize paper. Selected by the Working Paper Series Finance Editorial Board, the paper contributes to the literature on incentive design and corporate governance by studying the compensation of the top executives of the federal government who lead regulatory agencies overseeing firms and financial markets. It shows how the structure of executive pay can simultaneously affect effort, career choices, and the composition of the leadership responsible for monitoring firms. In doing so, it extends core governance questions about executive compensation and incentives beyond firms to the public-sector executives responsible for overseeing them. Read the paper here: https://www.ecgi.global/publications/working-papers/escaping-pay-for-performance

The 2026 ECGI Law Prize sponsored by WRDS for the Best Paper in the ECGI Law Working Paper Series in 2025 has been awarded to Luca Enriques (Bocconi University and ECGI), Matteo Gatti (Rutgers Law School and ECGI) and Roy Shapira (Reichman (IDC) and ECGI) for their paper: “How the EU Sustainability Due Diligence Directive Could Reshape Corporate America”.Law Series Editor, Amir Licht (Reichman University and ECGI) interviews on their prize paper.Selected by the Working Paper Series Law Editorial Board, the paper traces how a single piece of European legislation — the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, or CS3D — interacts with the American legal system in ways that could fundamentally change how large US corporations govern themselves on human rights and environmental issues. It bridges two bodies of law that rarely speak to each other: EU regulatory law and Delaware corporate law. The paper shows that their combination is more potent than either alone, and it identifies a new mechanism through which European regulation can reshape not just what companies sell, but how they operate across their entire global supply chains.Read the paper here: https://www.ecgi.global/publications/working-papers/how-the-eu-sustainability-due-diligence-directive-could-reshape

Dr Tom Gosling interviews Prof. Jill Fisch, the Saul A. Fox Distinguished Professor of Business Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Co-Director of the Institute for Law & Economics on her recent paper "Corporate Democracy and the Intermediary Voting Dilemma", co-authored with Prof. Jeff Schwartz.

Dr Tom Gosling interviews Prof. Wolf-Georg Ringe, Professor of Law and Finance and Director of the Institute of Law & Economics at the University of Hamburg, on his recent paper "Net-Zero Transition and Divestments of Carbon-Intensive Assets ", co-authored by Alperen Gözlügöl.ECGI Conversations is a compelling new interview series aimed at uncovering valuable insights, ideas, and perspectives from cutting-edge academic research. Hosted by ECGI Executive Fellow, Dr. Tom Gosling, this series promises to bring forth engaging discussions with leading experts in the field.

Watch the latest ECGI Conversation as Dr. Tom Gosling interviews Prof. José Azar, Associate Professor of Finance at IESE Business School at the University of Navarra, on his award-winning co-authored paper ‘Revisiting the Anticompetitive Effects of Common Ownership’. This paper won the 2023 ECGI Finance Prize for the Best Working Paper.

Watch Jennifer Hill, Bob Baxt AO Professor of Corporate and Commercial Law at Monash University in conversation with Dr Tom Gosling, on her recent paper "Shareholder Engagement Inside and Outside the Shareholder Meeting", co-authored with Tim Bowley and Steve Kourabas.

Dr. Tom Gosling interviews Prof. Michelle Lowry, the TD Bank Professor of Finance at Drexel University, on her recent paper ‘Firms’ Transition to Green: Innovation versus Lobbying’, co-authored by Sungjoung Kwon & Michela Verardo.

Interview with Prof. Alex Edmans, Professor of Finance at LBS, on his recent paper "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” co-authored by Caroline Flammer & Simon Glossner.ECGI Conversations is a compelling new interview series aimed at uncovering valuable insights, ideas, and perspectives from cutting-edge academic research.Hosted by ECGI Executive Fellow, Dr. Tom Gosling, this series promises to bring forth engaging discussions with leading experts in the field.For more interviews in this series, visit this page : https://www.ecgi.global/content/conversations

Interview with Prof. Anete Pajuste, Professor of Finance at Stockholm School of Economics, Riga, on her recent award-winning paper "Voice Through Divestment”, co-authored by Marco Becht & Anna Toniolo.

Dr. Tom Gosling interviews Prof. Dan Puchniak, Professor of Law at Singapore Management University, on his recent paper "No Need for Asia to be Woke: Contextualizing Anglo-America’s 'Discovery' of Corporate Purpose".

Dr Tom Gosling interviews Prof. Dirk Jenter from London School of Economics and Political Science on his body of work on the value of good and bad CEOs, based on a study of the impact of sudden CEO deaths.ECGI Conversations is a compelling interview series aimed at uncovering valuable insights, ideas, and perspectives from cutting-edge academic research. Hosted by ECGI Executive Fellow, Dr. Tom Gosling, this series promises to bring forth engaging discussions with leading experts in the field.

Dr Tom Gosling interviews Prof. Michal Barzuza of the University of Virginia and ECGI. Michal discusses her recent topical paper, "Nevada v. Delaware: The New Market for Corporate Law".ECGI Conversations is a compelling interview series that uncovers valuable insights, ideas, and perspectives from cutting-edge academic research. Hosted by ECGI Executive Fellow, Dr. Tom Gosling, this series promises to bring forth engaging discussions with leading experts in the field.

Tom Gosling followed up on his recent ECGI Conversations Series interview with Michal Barzuza, Professor of Law at the University of Virginia, to get her immediate reaction to the Tesla vote at yesterday's shareholder meeting.

Tom Gosling speaks with Katja Langenbucher, Professor of Law at Goethe University Frankfurt and ECGI Research Member, about her 2025 Cleary Gottlieb Law Prize–winning paper in the ECGI Working Paper Series, “Ownership and Trust: A Corporate Law Framework for Board Decision-Making in the Age of AI.”ECGI Conversations is a compelling interview series aimed at uncovering valuable insights, ideas, and perspectives from cutting-edge academic research. Hosted by ECGI Executive Fellow, Dr. Tom Gosling, this series promises to bring forth engaging discussions with leading experts in the field.Read the paper here: https://ecgi.global/working-paper/own...More such conversation series videos here: https://www.ecgi.global/publications/...

Dr Tom Gosling interviews Prof. Ed Rock, Martin Lipton Professor of Law at NYU and ECGI Fellow & Research Member, on his paper “The Emergence of Welfarist Corporate Governance", co-authored with Professor Marcel Kahan.ECGI Conversations is a compelling new interview series aimed at uncovering valuable insights, ideas, and perspectives from cutting-edge academic research. Hosted by ECGI Executive Fellow, Dr. Tom Gosling, this series promises to bring forth engaging discussions with leading experts in the field.

Dr Tom Gosling interviews Prof. Mary Ellen Carter from Boston College on her paper “Say on ESG: The Adoption of Say-on-Pay Laws, ESG Contracting, and Firm ESG Performance", co-authored with Prof. Andrea Pawliczek and Prof. Rong (Irene) Zhong.ECGI Conversations is a compelling new interview series aimed at uncovering valuable insights, ideas, and perspectives from cutting-edge academic research. Hosted by ECGI Executive Fellow, Dr. Tom Gosling, this series promises to bring forth engaging discussions with leading experts in the field.

Dr. Tom Gosling interviews Eilis Ferran, Professor of Companies and Securities Law at the University of Cambridge, to discuss her paper: "Reconciling Shareholder Primacy and the Interests of People and Planet", co-authored with Pedro Schilling de Carvalho, Assistant Professor in Financial and Environmental Law at University College London.Read the paper here: https://www.ecgi.global/publications/...ECGI Conversations is a compelling interview series aimed at uncovering valuable insights, ideas, and perspectives from cutting-edge academic research. Hosted by ECGI Executive Fellow, Dr. Tom Gosling, this series promises to bring forth engaging discussions with leading experts in the field.

Dr Tom Gosling interviews Prof. Antonio Mello, Frank Graner Distinguished Chair in Finance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and ECGI, to discuss his paper: “Why Do Firms Often Not Have a CEO Succession Plan?” co-authored with Francesco Celentano, Assistant Professor of Finance at University of Lausanne. ECGI Conversations is an interview series aimed at uncovering valuable insights, ideas, and perspectives from cutting-edge academic research. Hosted by ECGI Executive Fellow, Dr. Tom Gosling, this series delivers engaging discussions with leading experts in the field.

Dr Tom Gosling interviews Lalitha Naveen, Associate Professor of Finance at the Fox School of Business and Management, Temple University, to discuss her paper “Musk’s $56 billion: Pay, Incentives, or Rewards?” co-authored with Jeffrey Coles, Professor of Finance at the University of Utah and Naveen Daniel, Associate Professor at Drexel University.Read the paper here: https://www.ecgi.global/publications/...ECGI Conversations is a compelling interview series aimed at uncovering valuable insights, ideas, and perspectives from cutting-edge academic research. Hosted by ECGI Executive Fellow, Dr. Tom Gosling, this series promises to bring forth engaging discussions with leading experts in the field.

Dr Tom Gosling interviews Prof Rob Bauer, Professor of Finance at the University of Maastricht on his co-authored paper with Katrin Gödker (Bocconi University), Paul Smeets (University of Amsterdam) and Florian Zimmerman (University of Bonn), "Mental Models in Financial Markets: How Do Experts Reason About the Pricing of Climate Risk?"ECGI Conversations is a compelling interview series aimed at uncovering valuable insights, ideas, and perspectives from cutting-edge academic research. Hosted by ECGI Executive Fellow, Dr. Tom Gosling, this series promises to bring forth engaging discussions with leading experts in the field.Read his paper here: https://www.ecgi.global/publications/...More such conversation series videos here: https://www.ecgi.global/publications/...