The American Finance Association (AFA) is an academic organization whose focus is the study and promotion of financial economics. It was formed in 1939. Its main publication, the Journal of Finance, was first published in 1946. __TOC__

Mission The purpose of the association is to: Act as a mutual association of persons with an interest in finance Improve the public understanding of financial problems Provide for the exchange of financial ideas through the distribution of the Journal of Finance and other media Encourage the study of finance in colleges and universities Conduct other activities appropriate for a non-profit, professional society in the field of finance

Membership The association offers regular and student memberships and describes its members as a worldwide community of researchers, students, educators, and practitioners interested in financial economics.

A number of members are also distinguished in the Society of Fellows of the Association. These are members who have made significant contributions to the field of finance.

Administration The administration of the association is overseen by both officers and a board of directors. All of these positions are held by faculty at various universities. The board of directors rotates over time and assists in key decisions and policies.

Journal of Finance The Journal of Finance is an academic journal that covers the whole field of finance. It began publication in 1946. According to Journal Citation Reports, it has a 2015 impact factor of 5.290. The current editor is Antoinette Schoar. The Journal of Finance, The Review of Financial Studies, and the Journal of Financial Economics are considered to be the top-three finance journals.

Annual meeting

An annual meeting of the association is held every year in January, in conjunction with the American Economic Association and the North American Winter Meetings of the Econometric Society as a part of the Allied Social Science Associations. The president speaks on a selected topic and there are presentations of various financial papers. The AFA, Western Finance Association Meetings, and Society for Financial Studies Cavalcade are considered to be the three top general finance conferences in the world.

Recent Annual Meeting AFA sites: 2015 Boston, Massachusetts 2016 San Francisco, California 2017 Chicago, Illinois 2018 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 2019 Atlanta, Georgia 2020 San Diego, California 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting 2022 Virtual Annual Meeting

Past and current presidents of the AFA The years listed reflect the year of service as President. The Presidential Address is typically delivered at the annual meeting held in January of the following year (e.g., the 2025 President delivers the address in January 2026).

1940 Kenneth Field 1941 Chelcie C. Bosland 1942 Charles L. Prather 1943 John D. Clark 1944 No President 1945 No President 1946 Harry G. Guthman 1947 Lewis A. Froman 1948 Benjamin H. Beckhart 1949 Neil H. Jacoby 1950 Howard R. Bowen 1951 Raymond J. Saulnier 1952 Edward E. Edwards 1953 Roland I. Robinson 1954 Garfield V. Cox 1955 Norris O. Johnson 1956 Miller Upton 1957 Marshall D. Ketchum 1958 Lester V. Chandler 1959 James J. O'Leary 1960 Paul M. Van Arsdell 1961 Arthur M. Weimer 1962 Bion B. Howard 1963 George T. Conklin Jr. 1964 Roger F. Murray 1965 George Garvy 1966 J. Fred Weston 1967 Robert V. Roosa 1968 Harry C. Sauvain 1969 Walter E. Hoadley 1970 Lawrence S. Ritter 1971 Joseph A. Pechman 1972 Irwin Friend 1973 Sherman J. Maisel 1974 John Lintner 1975 Myron J. Gordon 1976 Merton H. Miller 1977 Alexander A. Robichek 1978 Burton G. Malkiel 1979 Edward J. Kane 1980 William F. Sharpe 1981 Franco Modigliani 1982 Harry M. Markowitz 1983 Stewart C. Myers 1984 James C. Van Horne 1985 Fischer Black 1986 Robert C. Merton 1987 Richard Roll 1988 Stephen A. Ross 1989 Michael J. Brennan 1990 Myron S. Scholes 1991 Robert H. Litzenberger 1992 Michael C. Jensen 1993 Mark Rubinstein 1994 Sanford J. Grossman 1995 Martin J. Gruber 1996 Eduardo S. Schwartz 1997 Hayne E. Leland 1998 Edwin J. Elton 1999 Hans R. Stoll 2000 Franklin Allen 2001 George M. Constantinides 2002 Maureen O'Hara 2003 Douglas W. Diamond 2004 René M. Stulz 2005 John Y. Campbell 2006 Richard C. Green 2007 Kenneth R. French 2008 Jeremy C. Stein 2009 J. Darrell Duffie 2010 John H. Cochrane 2011 Raghuram G. Rajan 2012 Sheridan Titman 2013 Robert Stambaugh 2014 Luigi G. Zingales 2015 Patrick Bolton 2016 Campbell Harvey 2017 David Scharfstein 2018 Peter DeMarzo 2019 David Hirshleifer 2020 Kenneth Singleton 2021 John Graham 2022 Laura Starks 2023 Markus Brunnermeier 2024 Monika Piazzesi 2025 Ulrike Malmendier 2026 Wei Jiang

Fellows of the American Finance Association

In January 2000, the Board of Directors of the American Finance Association instituted a Society of Fellows of the Association. The purpose of the society is to recognize those members who have made a distinguished contribution to the field of finance. Since Fellows are selected by the membership for their contributions to the field of finance, and since this is the principal criterion for election as president, all living past presidents and all future presidents of the association are designated as Fellows. The list of AFA Fellows contains all past presidents and the Fellows selected since that date. Each year, the Nominating Committee, chaired by the current president, solicits names from the membership and nominates a slate of no more than five candidates from which current Fellows elect one new Fellow. Polling of the current Fellows is carried out by the immediate past-president prior to the next annual meeting.

Prizes and awards

Fischer Black Prize Biennially, the association awards the Fischer Black Prize at its annual meeting. The award, named in honor of economist Fischer Black, recognizes an outstanding young academic whose original research has made a significant contribution to the field of finance.

Brattle Prizes Annually, the Brattle Prizes are awarded annually for outstanding papers on corporate finance at its annual meeting.

Dimensional Fund Advisors Prizes Annually, the association awards the Dimensional Fund Advisors Prizes (prizes prior to 2019 were sponsored by Amundi Pioneer, Amundi Smith Breeden, and Smith Breeden) for the top three papers in the Journal of Finance in any area other than corporate finance at its annual meeting.

Morgan Stanley-AFA Award for Excellence in Finance

The Morgan Stanley-American Finance Association Award for Excellence in Finance was a bi-annual finance award granted based on an individual's career achievements in outstanding thought leadership in the field of financial economics. The Award began in 2008 and continued for 5 bi-annual periods.

Notes

External links American Finance Association Morgan Stanley AFA Award