The American Finance Association (AFA) is an academic organization whose focus is the study and promotion of knowledge of financial economics. It was formed in 1939. Its main publication, the Journal of Finance, was first published in 1946.
Contents
Mission
The purpose of the association is to:
Administration
The administration of the association is overseen by both officers and a board of advisors. All of these positions are held by faculty at various American 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 editorial team is Stefan Nagel (Editor), Philip Bond, Amit Seru, and Wei Xiong. The Journal of Finance, The Review of Financial Studies, and the Journal of Financial Economics are considered to be the top-three finance journals.
Membership
The association currently has approximately 8,000 members who pay dues of $40 per year. The membership must be renewed every calendar year, and is obtained only through written application.
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. This includes all living past presidents and all future presidents.
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 Sciences Association. 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:
2013 San Diego, California
2012 Chicago, Illinois
2011 Denver, Colorado
2010 Atlanta, Georgia
2009 San Francisco, California
2008 New Orleans, Louisiana
2007 Chicago, Illinois.
2006 Boston, Massachusetts
2005 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2004 San Diego, California
2003 Washington, D.C.
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 below contains all living 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 a maximum of two new Fellows. Polling of the current Fellows is carried out by the immediate past-president prior to the next annual meeting. As non past president of the American Finance Association, elected Fellows of the American Finance Association are following:
2014 Albert S. “Pete” Kyle
2013 Bengt R. Holmström
2012 Andrei Shleifer
2011 Milton Harris
2010 Douglas T. Breeden
2009 Richard H. Thaler
2008 John C. Cox
2007 Lars Peter Hansen
2006 Robert J. Shiller
2005 Robert F. Engle
2004 Robert E. Lucas, Jr.
2003 Kenneth J. Arrow
2002 Paul A. Samuelson
2001 Eugene F. Fama
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.
Smith Breeden Prizes
Annually, the association awards the Smith Breeden Prizes 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
AFA has established a new bi-annual finance award to be granted based on an individual's career achievements in outstanding thought leadership in the field of financial economics. Formally it is the Morgan Stanley-American Finance Association Award for Excellence in Finance. The Award began in 2008 and will continue for 5 bi-annual periods. There shall only be one recipient of the Award in any bi-annual period. Eugene F. Fama and Michael C. Jensen are among the winners so far.