China may soon become the world’s largest economy, but most academic research in top journals is based on U.S. data.  The insights from papers on U.S. data may not automatically apply to China, since it has a unique set of institutional features, hence the need for research specific to China.  At the same time, many aspects of the Chinese economy are shared by other developing as well as developed countries, such as the potential conflicts of interest between majority and minority shareholders, the prevalence of state ownership, and the intricate interactions between market mechanisms and policy interventions.  Thus, the insights from papers on China may be applicable to countries far beyond China.… Read more...

The COVID-19 pandemic is a serious crisis.  To understand its effects, and to guide policy responses, we need evidence.  However, since the crisis is recent, we do not yet have enough data to understand its long-term effects; since some policy responses have not yet been tried, or have only recently been implemented, we are unable to assess their success. … Read more...

The pandemic of COVID-19 infections is causing substantial disruptions to daily life around the world. We are grateful to authors continuing to consider the RF as an outlet for their work during these disruptions. Our editors and referees reviewers are also affected by these disruptions.… Read more...

The Rewiew of Finance is delighted to announce the appointment of Marcin Kacperczyk as Editor for a three-year term starting in January 2020. He replaces Jules van Binsbergen whose term ends in December 2019. Jules has made superb contributions to the RF, not only in handling papers but also providing insights into broader journal strategy, and will continue in a new role of Advisory Editor after he steps down.… Read more...

The Managing Editor’s Report for 2018/9 is available here. Some highlights include:

• Our acceptance rate for regular submissions has fallen to 4.1% (from 5.3% in 2017-8 and 6.3% in 2018-9), consistent with our policy of applying top-three standards. Our fast-track acceptance rate is 2%
  • As a result, our backlog continues to fall substantially, reducing the time between acceptance and in-print publication.

The Review of Finance congratulates the following award winners:

Pagano/Zechner award for best non-investments paper

Winner: Gene Amromin, Jennifer Huang, Clemens Sialm, Edward Zhong for Complex Mortgages (summary)

Runner-up: Han Kim, Ernst Maug, Christoph Schneider for Labor Representation in Governance as an Insurance Mechanisms (summary)

Finalists:

• Ryan Michaels, Beau Page, Toni Whited, Labor and Capital Dynamics under Financing Frictions (summary)
• Carl Hsin-han Shen, Hao Zhang Tournament Incentives and Firm Innovation
• Anthony M Kwasnica, Raisa Velthuis, Jared Williams: Did You See What I Saw?