Luigi Zingales | Keynote Speaker │ 29th Annual CITIC CLSA Flagship Investors' Forum 2022

29th Annual CITIC CLSA Flagship Investors' Forum 2022 - Corporations provide the substructure that underpins modern capitalism, which has given rise to unparalleled economic growth and poverty alleviation over the last century. Uniquely positioned as quasi-individuals with their own rights, companies have a comparative technological advantage when dealing with externalities in the public domain. This asymmetry of influence leads to an uncomfortable question: what role should they play in society? To examine this fundamental issue that sits at the core of the Western order, we will welcome Luigi Zingales to IF22 to unpack the potential powers shareholders have in shaping the decisions firms make.

As we progress past peak-Friedmanism - most recently exemplified by more than 1,000 companies exiting Russia - corporations are taking unprecedented ideological stances. On the surface, it appears these entities are becoming aware of the public’s growing disdain over their influence and are taking collective action to improve their image by welcoming stakeholder capitalism. Will this become the status quo or is it just a function of their comparative advantage and sway over the public domain? Join us in September for a fascinating session to pick apart these issues and provide a framework for ESG’s staunch advocates and critics, and debate the investment implications of this potentially tectonic shift.

Professor Zingales is the Robert C. McCormack Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance and the Charles M. Harper Faculty Fellow at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. His research interests span corporate governance, financial development, political economy and the economic effects of culture. Zingales previously served as President of the American Finance Association and the Director of the Stigler Center at the University of Chicago. He has written two bestselling books, Saving capitalism from the capitalists with Raghu Rajan, and A capitalism for the people. He also runs a podcast, Capitalisn't, with Katherine Waldock from Georgetown University. Zingales received a bachelor's in economics summa cum laude from the Università Bocconi in Italy and a PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Join us for our 29th Annual CITIC CLSA Flagship Investors’ Forum, Asia’s best-known and longest-running investor conference. This year, we will showcase four themes that will challenge and enlighten delegates: Geopolitics and macro strategy, Trade systems and supply chains, Innovation and disruption and ESG realities.

Our virtual Forum will bring together over 1,000 top executives from around 475 leading companies for meetings with more than 2,000 investors. Over four days, we will once again feature an exemplary lineup of distinguished webinar speakers, including experts on technology, health, environmental and social issues as well as geopolitical specialists and global finance and economics leaders.