5th Finance and Productivity (FINPRO) Conference: Corporate Finance and Productivity in Times of Geopolitical Fragmentation

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Canonical URL: 5th Finance and Productivity (FINPRO) Conference: Corporate Finance and Productivity in Times of Geopolitical Fragmentation

For event inquiries:
International Monetary Fund
Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
Tel. 81-(0)3-3597-6700
Email: OAPSeminars@IMF.org

Event theme: How firms adapt investment and financing decisions and build resilience in response to overlapping shocks and constraints, including geopolitical uncertainty, tight fiscal space, evolving financial conditions, supply-chain disruptions and climate-related and other environmental factors.
Focus areas: interaction between corporate finance, productivity dynamics, and global economic fragmentation; role of infrastructure and intangible investment in sustainable economic growth.
Format: keynote lectures, academic research sessions, and policy-oriented discussions bringing together academics, policymakers, and representatives from international financial institutions.

Tokyo, Japan
April 24-25, 2026
Saturday, April 25, 2026 sessions: In-person: 2F, Conference room, Kojima Hall (Session 4,5), Fukutake Hall (Policy Panel), The University of Tokyo / Virtual: Zoom
Time zone: Japan Standard Time (UTC/GMT +9)

Co-organizers: The University of Tokyo CARF, IMF, EBRD, CEPR, CompNet & IWH
Program committee: Filippo di Mauro (IWH-CompNet), Andrea Caggese (UPF), Kenichi Ueda (University of Tokyo CARF and CEPR), Ralph de Haas (EBRD and CEPR), Javier Miranda (IWH), Anne Oeking (IMF), Pedro Armada (IWH), Michael Koetter (IWH)
Local organization: Tomoko Katagiri (IMF) & Alisa Inamasu (The University of Tokyo CARF）
Administrative organization: CompNet Team
Policy Panel Chair: Filippo di Mauro (IWH-CompNet)

Majority of sessions: by invitation only.
Policy Panel: open to the public; starts at 2:30 p.m. on April 25, 2026.
Registration options: in-person participation and online participation (virtual via Zoom).

Session 1: Financial Constraints; Chair: Kenichi Ueda
- 11:10 AM — Paper 1 – ‘Zombies? Growth Options, Heterogeneous Firms, and the Allocative Effects of Zombie Lending’ by Andrea Caggese (Universitat Pompeu Fabra); Discussion: Martin Aragoneses (INSEAD); Q&A
- 11:55 AM — Paper 2 – ‘Credit Card Entrepreneurs’ by Javier Miranda (IWH); Discussion: Ralph De Haas (EBRD, KU Leuven and CEPR); Q&A
- 12:40 PM — Lunch Break

Session 2: Geopolitics; Chair: Anne Oeking
- 1:40 PM — Paper 3 – ‘Exorbitant Privilege and Economic Sanctions’ by Beata Javorcik (EBRD, Oxford and CEPR); Discussion: Elena Carletti (Bocconi University and CEPR); Q&A
- 2:25 PM — Paper 4 – ‘How External Fiscal Policy Uncertainty Affects Productivity of European Countries’ by Gee Hee Hong (IMF); Discussion: Kiyotaka Sato (Yokohama National University); Q&A
- 3:10 PM — Coffee Break

Session 3: Investments; Chair: Javier Miranda
- 3:30 PM — Paper 5 – ‘Industrial Policy via Venture Capital’ by Martin Aragoneses (INSEAD); Discussion: Kenta Ikeuchi (RIETI); Q&A
- 4:15 PM — Paper 6 – ‘Buying Brains: R&D Incentives and Acqui-hires’ by William McShane (American University of Paris); Discussion: Juanita Gonzalez-Uribe (LSE and CEPR); Q&A
- 5:00 PM — End of first day

Saturday, April 25, 2026 (continued)
- Session 4: Climate and Intangibles; Chair: Ralph De Haas
- 9:30 AM — Paper 7 – ‘Climate Risk and Cross-Border Lending: Evidence from the Syndicated Loan Market’ by Koji Takahashi (Seikei University); Discussion: Miho Takizawa (Gakushuin University); Q&A
- 10:15 AM — Paper 8 – ‘The Intangible Economy and the Decline of Corporate Leverage in Europe’ by Tomislav Ladika (University of Amsterdam); Discussion: Benedicta Marzinotto (University of Udine and Johns Hopkins); Q&A
- 11:00 AM — Coffee Break

Session 5: Banking; Chair: Andrea Caggese
11:20 AM — Paper 9 – ‘Survival of the Fittest: How Private Credit Shapes Firm Adaptation in a Critical Input Crisis’ by Costanza Tomaselli (Imperial College London); Discussion: Daisuke Miyakawa (Waseda University); Q&A
12:05 PM — Paper 10 – ‘Finance, Employment, and Survival: Evidence from Bank Liquidations in Ukraine’ by Solomiya Shpak (World Bank) and John Earle (George Mason University); Discussion: Gee Hee Hong (IMF); Q&A
12:50 PM — Lunch and Official Group Photo

Policy Panel; Chair: Filippo di Mauro (IWH-CompNet)
2:30 PM — Panelists: Beata Javorcik (Chief Economist at EBRD and CEPR); Kenichi Ueda (Director of CARF and Professor of Economics at the University of Tokyo CARF and CEPR); Laura Alfaro (Inter-American Development Bank and CEPR); Reint Gropp (Halle Institute for Economic Research and CEPR); Q&A
4:00 PM — Closing Remarks
4:15 PM — End of Conference

Financial constraints and allocative effects of lending to low-productivity firms (zombies).
Entrepreneurship and finance (credit card entrepreneurs).
Geopolitical fragmentation: sanctions, external fiscal policy uncertainty, and productivity.
Investment dynamics: venture capital, R&D incentives, and acqui-hires.
Climate risk and cross-border lending in syndicated loan markets.
Role of intangibles in corporate leverage trends in Europe.
Banking sector resilience and the impact of bank liquidations on finance, employment, and firm survival.