Stigler Center-CEPR Political Economy of Finance Conference 2026: Crony Capitalism in 21st Century America

November 6-7, 2026

Gleacher Center - Chicago

About the Conference

A century after J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Mellon, the rise of crony capitalism in America raises a familiar political economy question: how business elites intertwine with political elites to help them gain and entrench power.

Today’s mechanisms may look different than those in the past, but the core dynamic appears similar: concentrated wealth can underwrite political ascents, reshape the information environment, and weaken democratic accountability and state capacity. The emphasis is not only on policy favors but on how economic power can be converted into political power, tilting the rules of democratic competition and making influence self-reinforcing.

We aim to bring together scholars from finance, economics, political science, history, and law to compare these dynamics across countries and time, and to identify when and why the alliance between economic and political power becomes especially consequential for American democracy in the twenty-first century.

The conference keynote will be delivered by Nobel Laureate Simon Johnson (MIT and CEPR).

Call for Papers

The submission deadline for papers on topics related to crony capitalism in 21st century America was June 1, 2026 by 11:59 p.m. CT. 

About the Conference Series

The event, jointly hosted by the Stigler Center and The Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), aims to bring together researchers active at the intersections between Economics, Finance, Political Science, and Law.

This conference is in-person and by invitation-only.

Agenda

Friday, November 6, 2026
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Lunch | Panel - Crony Capitalism in the Trump Administration
Eric Lipton, The New York Times
Roger Myerson, University of Chicago
Moderator: Luigi Zingales, University of Chicago; CEPR
1:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Transition & Welcome Remarks
1:30 p.m. – 2:20 p.m. Marina Gertsberg, University of Melbourne — Him Too? Analyzing the Effects of Epstein Connections (with Michaela Pagel and Ekaterina Volkova)
Discussant: Raymond Fisman, Boston University
2:20 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Break
2:30 p.m. – 3:20 p.m. Reilly Steel, Columbia University — Systematic Corruption
Discussant: Naomi Lamoreaux, Yale University
3:20 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Break
3:30 p.m. – 4:20 p.m. Viktar Fedaseyeu, China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) — Mega-Donors and Representation of the Wealthy in the Wake of Citizens United (with Ilona Babenko and Guosong Xu)
Discussant: Marianne Bertrand, University of Chicago; CEPR
4:20 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Break
4:30 p.m. – 5:20 p.m. Eashwar Nagaraj, University of Florida — Corporate Shadow Lobbying
Discussant: Timothy LaPira, James Madison University
5:20 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Break
5:30 p.m. – 6:20 p.m. Doron Levit, University of Washington; CEPR— Stakeholder Governance and the Lobbying Ratchet Effect (with Markus Parlasca and Paul Voss)
Discussant: John Matsusaka, USC Marshall
6:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Reception — PIMCO Midway Club
7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Dinner | Keynote
Simon Johnson, Nobel Laureate, MIT; CEPR
Saturday, November 7, 2026
8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Breakfast
9:00 a.m. – 9:50 a.m. Yanduo Chen, Singapore Management University — The Geoeconomics of Imports: Evidence from UN Security Council Elections (with Yanduo Chen)
Discussant: Christopher Clayton, Yale University
9:50 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Break
10:00 a.m. – 10:50 a.m. Kobi Kastiel, Tel-Aviv University — Controllers Unbound (with Lucian Bebchuk)
Discussant: Steve Kaplan, University of Chicago
10:50 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Break
11:00 a.m. – 11:50 a.m. Anat Admati, Stanford University — Profitable Misconduct, Corporate Governance, and Law Enforcement (with Nathan Atkinson and Paul Pfeiderer)
Discussant: Magdalena Rola-Janicka, Imperial College London; CEPR
11:50 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Break
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. – 1:10 p.m. Break
1:10 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Matthew Denes, Carnegie Mellon University — Politics at the Gate: Entry Barriers in Private Equity (with Jun Chen)
Discussant: Emmanuel Yimfor, Columbia University
2:00 p.m. Closing Remarks | Conference Adjourns
Agenda tentative and subject to change

Conference Organizers

  • Thomas Lambert, Associate Professor of Finance, Erasmus University
  • Enrico Perotti, Professor of International Finance, University of Amsterdam; CEPR
  • Magdalena Rola-Janicka, Assistant Professor of Finance, Imperial College London; CEPR
  • Luigi Zingales, Robert C. McCormack Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance, University of Chicago; CEPR

    • Program Committee

  • Pat Akey, ESSEC Business School; CEPR
  • Matilde Bombardini, University of California Berkeley; CEPR
  • Emanuele Colonnelli, University of Chicago; CEPR
  • Mara Faccio, Purdue University
  • Raymond Fisman, Boston University
  • Nandini Gupta, Indiana University
  • Elisabeth Kempf, Harvard University; CEPR
  • Clara Martínez-Toledano, Imperial College London; CEPR
  • Alessio Piccolo, Indiana University
  • Mounu Prem, Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance; CEPR
  • Paola Sapienza, Stanford University
  • Amit Seru, Stanford University; CEPR
  • Edoardo Teso, Northwestern University; CEPR
  • Margarita Tsoutsoura, Washington University in St. Louis; CEPR
  • Paolo Volpin, Drexel University; CEPR

    • Conference Venue:

    Gleacher Center
    450 Cityfront Plaza Dr, Chicago, IL 60611

    For more information, contact:

    Matthew Lucky, Stigler Center
    matthew.lucky@chicagobooth.edu