Fireside Chat with Nobel Laureate, Professor Michael Spence and Professor Jennifer Carpenter

Michael Spence

Nobel Laureate A. Michael Spence joined New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business as a professor of economics in September 2010. He is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Philip H. Knight Professor Emeritus of Management in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.

Professor Spence, whose scholarship focuses on economic policy in emerging markets, the economics of information, and the impact of leadership on economic growth, was chairman of the independent Commission on Growth and Development (2006 - 2010), a global policy group focused on strategies for producing rapid and sustainable economic growth, and reducing poverty. He also serves as a consultant to PIMCO, a senior adviser at Oak Hill Investment Management, and as a member of the board of the Stanford Management Company as well as a number of public and private companies.

A Rhodes Scholar and the recipient of many honors and awards, Professor Spence was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2001 and the John Bates Clark Medal from the American Economics Association in 1981. He is the author of three books and 50 articles, and is a member of the American Economic Association and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Econometric Society.

Professor Spence served as Philip H. Knight Professor and dean of the Stanford Business School from 1990 to 1999. Before that, he was a professor of economics and business administration at Harvard University, chairman of its economics department, and dean of its Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Professor Spence earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1972, a B.A./M.A. from Oxford University in 1968 and a B.A. (summa cum laude) from Princeton University in 1966.

Jennifer Carpenter

Jennifer N. Carpenter is an associate professor of finance at New York University Stern School of Business. She is best known for her pioneering research on executive stock options and managerial risk incentives and is increasingly recognized for her developing expertise on ChinaÔÇÖs evolving financial system. She has published in numerous journals including the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial Economics, and the Review of Financial Studies. She has presented her work on The Real Value of China's Stock Market at venues including the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Peoples Bank of China, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

Professor Carpenter is associate director of the Stern Center for Global Economy and Business and Coordinator of its China Initiative, where she runs a monthly China research seminar and organizes regular conferences. She teaches Debt Instruments and Markets in NYU Stern's Undergraduate program and Master of Global Finance program, as well as a PhD course on Continuous Time Finance. Her contributions to the School were recognized in 2012 when she won the Stern Distinguished Teaching Award for Teaching Excellence and, again in 2013, with the Stern Faculty Leadership Award.

Before joining NYU, Professor Carpenter worked at Goldman, Sachs & Company in the Fixed Income Division. Carpenter received her BS in economics, MA in finance, MA in mathematics, and PhD in finance from the University of Pennsylvania.