Thematic Semester on Commodity Derivatives Markets:
Industrial Organization, Regulation and Financialization

AfficheA3-ThematicSemester-DerivativesMarkets_v8d-vectoredThis project aims to examine recent developments in commodity derivatives markets. The changed industrial organization and the financialization of these markets are major phenomena, both of which call for changes in regulation.

In recent years, commodity derivatives markets have undergone profound changes in how they are regulated. This process of regulatory change is clearly not complete. It is, however, already giving rise to specific problems that need to be assessed, or even identified. By way of illustration, restrictive regulations on so-called legitimate uses of derivatives, i.e. related not to speculation but to risk management in commodity trading, raise practical problems. Indeed it is difficult to identify legitimate operations in an objective, swift and uncircumventable way. To properly understand the issues and potential problems arising from such regulation, we propose, in the framework of the thematic semester, to interpret it as stemming from two major phenomena at work simultaneously: the changed industrial organization of these markets and their financialization.

Organizing Committee

Delphine Lautier (Member of the Scientific Committee of the Chair, Université Paris-Dauphine)
Bertrand Villeneuve (Université Paris-Dauphine)
Clémence Alasseur (Executive Director of IdR FiME, EDF R&D)
Damien Fessler (Chaire FDD & IdR FiME)

Scientific committee

René Aïd (EDF R&D, FIME)
Clémence Alasseur (EDF R&D, FIME)
René Carmona (Princeton University)
Ivar Ekeland (Université Paris-Dauphine)
Delphine Lautier (Université Paris-Dauphine)
Michel Robe (American University, Washington)
Nizar Touzi (Ecole Polytechnique)
Bertrand Villeneuve (Université Paris Dauphine)

Research Initiatives and associated institutions

The thematic semester is supported by:
Institut Louis Bachelier
Global Risk Institute
Conseil Français de l’Energie
“Finance for Energy Markets” Research Initiative
“Finance & Sustainable Development” Chair
“Financial Risks” Chair
DRM-Finance

The thematic semester includes the following events:

1. Opening conference at the Institut Henri Poincaré (IHP), Paris, 26-27 March 2015

To launch the thematic semester, the opening conference aimed to show the state of the art and especially to identify new research problems. Special emphasis was given to the identification of unsolved problems.

Confirmed invited speakers:
Bahattin Buyuksahin (Research Advisor, Bank of Canada)
Remy Praz (Assistant Professor, Copenhagen Business School)
Thomas-Olivier Léautier (Professor, IDEI, Toulouse School of Economics)
Christophe Pérignon (Associate Professor, HEC, Paris)
Anna Creti (Professor, Université Paris-Dauphine)
Andreas Rathgeber (Professor, Augsburg University)
Yannick Le Pen (Assistant Professor, Université Paris-Dauphine)

2. Thematic seminars at the Institut Henri Poincaré (IHP), Paris

The thematic seminars will aim to present innovative research in connection with the proposed themes. These seminars will be organized throughout the semester, with a two-hour session approximately every month (a one-hour presentation and an hour for discussion). They will be held in Paris on Friday afternoons.

Confirmed speakers:
April 3rd 2015: Evgenia Passari (Assistant Professor, Université Paris-Dauphine)
May 22nd 2015: Marc Joëts (Professor, Ipag Business School) & Valérie Mignon (Professor, Université Paris Ouest – Nanterre La Défense)
October 9th 2015: Elisa Scarpa (Head of Market Analysis, Forecasting & Structuring, Edison Trading)

3. Summer school at Villa Finaly, Firenze, 12-18 July 2015

A summer school has been organized to allow doctoral students, and in some cases master’s students, to familiarize themselves with the problems and methodological issues related to commodity derivatives markets. It was also aimed at both practitioners and more experienced researchers. Five half-day master classes, designed to present in a detailed and pedagogical manner the states of the art in each of the sub-topics within the semester, have been arranged.

Master classes by:
Frans de Roon (Professor, Tilburg University)
Ivar Ekeland (Emeritus Professor, Université Paris-Dauphine)
Michel Robe (Associate Professor, American University)
Eugenio Bobenrieth (Professor, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile)
Brian Wright (Professor, University of California, Berkeley)

Other confirmed speakers:
Alvaro Cartea (Reader, University College, London)
Remy Praz (Assistant Professor, Copenhagen Business School)
Rémy Lambinet (Research Associate, Global Risk Institute)
Andreas Rathgeber (Professor, Augsburg University)
Kumar Venkataraman (Professor, Cox School of Business, Southern Methodist University)
Marius A. Zoican (Assistant Professor, Université Paris-Dauphine)
Steven D. Baker (Assistant Professor, University of Virginia)
Jonathan Wallen (PhD student, Stanford University)

Other confirmed attendants:
Clémence Alasseur (Executive Director of IdR FiME, EDF R&D)
Delphine Lautier (Professor, Université Paris-Dauphine)
Bertrand Villeneuve (Professor, Université Paris-Dauphine)
Damien Fessler (General Secretary, Chaire FDD & IdR FiME)
René Aïd (Deputy Head, Osiris Department, EDF R&D)
Imen Ben Tahar (Assistant Professor, Université Paris-Dauphine)
Yannick Le Pen (Assistant Professor, Université Paris-Dauphine)
Julien Ling (PhD student, Université Paris-Dauphine)
Edouard Jaeck (PhD student,Université Paris-Dauphine)
Mohammad Isleimeyyeh (PhD student,Université Paris-Dauphine)
Olivier Féron (Research Engineer, EDF R&D)
Thomas Deschatre (PhD student, Université Paris-Dauphine)
Pierre Gruet (PhD student, Université Paris-Diderot)
Adrien Nguyen-huu (Post-doctoral fellow, CERMICS, ENPC)
Qin Zhen (PhD student, University of Toronto)
Luciano Campi (Associate Professor, London School of Economics)
Ernesto Guerra (PhD student, University of California, Berkeley)
Casey Petroff (Graduate student at London School of Economics)
Nina Lange (PhD student, Copenhagen Business School)
Wenqian Huang (PhD student, VU University Amsterdam)
Bernardo Ramos (Graduate student, UPMC)
Btissam El Bahraoui (PhD Student at MINES ParisTech)

4. Closing conference at Palais Brongniart, Paris, November 6, 2015

The cycle will conclude with a conference on the various topics addressed. It will aim to summarize the work presented in each axis and make connections among the issues covered, and will open up the discussions to a wider public. We will seek in particular to attract practitioners through dedicated sessions and roundtables, so as to introduce them to the current state of the art and enable them to interact with academic researchers.

Confirmed speakers:
Lutz Kilian (Professor of economics, University of Michigan)
Anna Pavlova (Associate Professor of Finance, London Business School)
Carol Alexander (Professor of Finance, University of Sussex)
Celso Brunetti (Senior Economist, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System)
Marcel Prokopczuk (Professor of Finance, Leibniz University Hannover)

The Thematic Semester is supported by the Labex Louis Bachelier “Finance & Sustainable Growth”, the Global Risk Institute and the Conseil Français de l’Energie.