From October 20to 21, 2018, the International Conference on Applied Finance, MacroeconomicPerformance and Economic Growth, jointly organized by the journal “EconomicModelling” and Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, was held atthe Academic Center of Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics. Professor XueyongZHANG and his doctoral student Jiangjing QUE attended this academic conference.

Applied Finance,Macroeconomic Performance and Economic Growth have always been importantsub-areas in economics, on which scholars and policy makers have conductedextensive research. In recent years, whether it is policy change or economiccrise, such as Brexit, Bitcoin, Global Financial Crisis, Oil Price Fluctuations,etc. or human event like Climate Change, the ongoing global events are needed tobe further studied from the financial field, so as to explain the reaction of FinancialMarkets and Macroeconomics and Economic Growth to the events that have occurredover the past decade. In view of this, the theme of this academic conferencewas: “Applied Finance, Macroeconomic Performance and Economic Growth”. The Conferenceinvited Professor Paresh Kumar Narayan, Editor-in-Chief of “EconomicModelling”, and Professor Jinqiang YANG from Shanghai University of Financeand Economics to give keynote speeches respectively on “the Problems in the Processof Writing Academic Papers” and “Donated Fund Model and Portfolio Theory”. Inaddition they had in-depth exchanges of views with many scholars present.

The paper,Co-authored by Professor Xueyong ZHANG and his doctoral student Jiangjing YANwas presented at this Conference. The paper, entitled “Pre-IPO Growth, Venture Capital,and Long-run Performance of IPO Firms”, analyzes the relationship between thegrowth of companies with venture capital background before listing and the long-termperformance after listing. It is found that for matched samples, the growth of companies prior to listinghas a positive impact on the long-term performance after listing, but thisimpact is weakened by the presence of VCs. For companies with a VC background,there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between the growth of companies prior to listingand the long-term performance after listing. And the paper discusses the causesof the inverted U-shaped relationship as well.

During theconference, more than 50 financial experts and scholars from all over the worldgathered together to discuss and exchange the latest research results. Theteachers and students from CUFE had a heated discussion with the participants, whichstrengthened academic contacts and expanded the academic influence of CUFE.