Panel Discussion on “Heuristics in Finance” and “Women in Science” - Winter School on Bounded Rationality

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The “Heuristics in Finance” panel discussed the importance of heuristics or simple rules of thumb and need for traditional financial theories to include psychological motives in the decision-making process.  The panellists for this discussion were, Prof. Gerd Gigerenzer (MPIB), Prof. Madhu Veeraraghavan (TAPMI), Dr. Sagneet Kaur (Morningstar), Prof. Sanjay Kallapur (Indian School of Business) and Prof. Shyam Sunder (Yale School of Management on video conferencing).

The discussion on “Women in Science” revolved around how the role of women has changed during the millennia, especially related to the domain of finance that is predominantly male-dominated.

The panellists for this discussion were, Dr. Özgür Simsek (University of Bath), Dr. Michelle McDowell (MPIB), Prof. Sumitava Mukherjee (IIT Delhi), Prof Raghunath Rudran (TAPMI), Dr. Shenghua Luan (Chinese Academy of Sciences) and Prof. Ritu Gupta (TAPMI).

Around 50 participants were present for both panel discussions. The audience were PhD scholars, post-docs and junior faculty who were participants of the winter school from India and abroad, attendees from CFA Institute, and faculty from TAPMI and Manipal University. Both panel discussions were very successful in deliberating on applications in behavioral science to the world of finance and sparked the interesting debate on the role of women in research and development, especially in Finance-led roles. More than 25 research projects in the field of behavioral sciences were discussed through poster presentations, and we also have active participations from CFA-Institute investment professionals.

Both Panel discussions acknowledged the support of the German Centre for Research and Innovation New Delhi (DWIH) and the Max Planck Society (MPG) for sponsoring travel and accommodation for Prof. Gerd Gigerenzer, Dr. Michelle McDowell, Prof. Sanjay Kallapur and Prof. Sumitava Mukherjee.