Mission
The Washington Area Finance Association, Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation chartered in the State of Maryland. The Association was initially organized in the Spring of 1997 by a group of researchers at Washington area universities, including Isabelle Bajeux-Besnainou and Arthur J. Wilson of George Washington University, Gerald Hanweck of George Mason University, Kent Baker of American University, Reza Saidi of Catholic University, and James Angel of Georgetown University, with a grant from the Consortium of Washington Area Research Universities, and with the support of several area regulatory researchers, including David Malmquist of the OTC, Gary Fissel of the FDIC, Erik Sirri and Amy Edwards of the SEC, and Tim McCormick of the Nasdaq. Tim McCormick and Nasdaq have been particularly helpful in providing generous support for most of our conferences. WAFA was formally incorporated in September 1999.

The mission of the Association is to promote high quality research in finance and related fields by providing researchers with a suitable venue for presenting their work and receiving conscientious feedback and scrutiny from other researchers in a cost effective manner. It is well known that many regional and national conferences are expensive to attend and require long delays between the conception, implementation, and critique of academic work. In contrast, the Washington Area Finance Association provides a regular, high quality, low-cost, fast-turnaround conference series.

Our conferences generally take place twice a year: in the Spring and the Fall. Presenters receive feedback from designated discussants as well as a diverse audience which includes researchers from universities, businesses, and government and international agencies located in the Washington area. Although the majority of presenters are from this area, we also welcome, and have had participants from other parts of the United States, and even as far away as New Zealand. Some of the presented papers were subsequently published in the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, and other publications.

Our hope is that such regular, frequent occasions for good feedback would help improve both the quality and quantity of financial research coming out of Washington area institutions and help promote collaboration among colleagues, thereby contributing to the finance profession as a whole.