On October 15th, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of CUEB, the 3rd Economic &Trade Development Forum co-sponsored by CUEB and Cleveland State University took place, with the Confucius Institute jointly founded by the two universities as a platform. Xu Fang, vice president of CUEB, Qi Yudong, assistant of president of CUEB, Yan Yuntai, director of Confucius Institute Council, Cindy Scoluby, vice president of Cleveland State University, Olivier, president of Groupama Avic Insurance, and other experts and scholars of CUEB attended the forum.

In the keynote speech session, Chinese and foreign scholars offered lectures on areas of their academic concentration.

Professor Zhou Haigang, director of the School of Finance at Cleveland State University, conducted an aggregate analysis of share prices of companies listed at Shanghai Stock Exchange, and found that the more liberalized the market is, the larger cost of carry, which lead to more uncertainties in stock prices. Interestingly, because of cultural factors, the stock prices in Shanghai Stock Exchange are more prone to stay at the figure of8than at4.

Professor Tomlinson Terry at Cleveland State University, based on the investigation of developing country markets, analyzed the professionalization and mechanism-building of the developing country exports. Guided by international rules, developing countries keep exploring professional modes of trade, with multiple modes in co-existence and more new trade patterns emerging.

Olivier analyzed the present situation and prospects of China's insurance industry, and elaborated Groupama Avic Insurance’s exploration and development as well as its problems in operation. At the same time, he pointed out that China had grown into a leading country in the field of insurance; the insurance market was growing more diversified and undergoing step-wise reforms, so there was still great potential for its growth in the future.

Associate Professor Zhao Jiazhang from CUEB School of Economics provided unique insight into the Sino-US bilateral trade. China and U.S are important trade partners, and there were still further room for improvement in both bilateral trade and bilateral investments. Although trade frictions might occur between the two countries, cooperative development was the fundamentals of the Sino-US economic and trade relations, and the key issue to test the bilateral relational was trust. Only mutual trust can lead to the rapid development of trade and investment.

Through a large number of empirical tests, Niu Yi, teacher from CUEB International School of Economics and Management, made a conclusion different from traditional interpretations. Niu found that there was a big difference in business selection effects of different provinces, and the progress of market reform and the development of transport infrastructure were two important influential factors. In particular, the reduction of the public sector helped the formation of business selection mechanism, while because of the development of highways, choices of enterprises of different sizes were converging.

Liu Jianlei, teacher of CUEB School of Finance, took A-share IPO companies as the object of study, and he found that with the increase in legal protection of property rights, the under pricing degree of IPO would decrease. Legal protection eased the uncertainty regarding property protection in advance, so it reduced the level of IPO under-pricing.

Dominique, teacher from Saint Augustine University of Tanzania, believed that foreign direct investment (FDI)had positive effects on improving the productivity of Chinese enterprises. Although China's domestic productivity is growing, but because of the extraordinary rise in the cost of production would inevitably lead investors to turn to the cheaper labors, as a result, many production sectors in China lost their competitive advantage. Therefore, China needed to develop enterprises with more dynamics, and should actively seek overseas investment in order to maintain the advantage of Chinese against competition on the international stage.

Gao Yichen, teacher of CUEB International School of Economics and management, made research on the changes of monetary policy and the treatment effects of the financial crisis on the RMB exchange rate against the US dollar of nearly 20 years. The changes of policy, the financial crisis and the fixed exchange rate system of RMB against US dollar resulted in nominal devaluation of the exchange rate. After joining the WTO, the underestimation of RMB peaked, but the reform of the exchange rate system in 2005 eased the underestimation, which proved that the reform of exchange rate system took effects.

Zhao Ran, teacher of CUEB School of Finance, analyzed Japan’s policy measures and historical experience of joining the SDR basket of five countries, and detailed the lessons China should learn after RMB joined the basket. The misjudgments of Japan government about the prospects of the internationalization of JPY, over-reliance on the American economy, and over optimistic estimation towards the exchange rate fluctuations of JPY caused the ultimate failure of JPY. He also proposed that China should promote the internationalization of RMB while ensuring the stability of exchange rate, liberalizing capital count prudently and creating a good external environment for the development of the real economy.

Professor Yin Zhichao, dean of CUEB School of Finance, pointed that due to big differences in wealth, income and consumption between families in China, the development of Financial Inclusion was still of necessity. Through quantitative analysis, it was shown that inclusive finance could not only reduce the inequality in terms of income, consumption, wealth and opportunity, but also eradicate poverty and reduce unemployment. In order to develop inclusive finance, he suggested that we should start from the promotion of financial education and the improvement of financial infrastructure services. 

This Economic and Trade Development Forum is significant in prompting the further cooperation and exchanges between the two schools, and it is an in-depth exploration in research collaboration following the exchanges between students and teachers, and it will improve the ability to serve local economies and social development. Both universities expressed the hope to strengthen exchanges and cooperation in various aspects, and they were confident to make this Forum adistinctive and influential brand.