In the first year, the Quantitative Research in Economics and Financial Modeling Lab (QREFM Lab) successfully hosted a series of in-depth seminars to introduce key research directions and establish a strong academic foundation for both lecturers and students. Led by Dr. Vuong Van Yen, Dr. Nguyen Van Quy, and Dr. Pham Thi Hien, students in QREFM Lab actively participated in QREFM Lab's academic and research activities. In total, QREFM Lab organized eight seminars focused on the following core research areas:
- Computational and Financial Mathematics: Research focuses on pricing, hedging, and trading strategies using mathematical modeling and numerical methods in finance.
- Market Microstructure: Topics include liquidity analysis, limit order books (LOBs), and mean-field games, with an emphasis on modeling and simulating market dynamics using advanced tools such as deep generative models.
- Mechanism Design and Information Economics: Exploring how mechanisms and incentives can be designed to optimize outcomes in various economic settings. Recent projects include Bayesian persuasion and strategic information disclosure, with published work “Auction design with heterogeneous priors” in Games and Economic Behavior (2024) - Dr Pham Thi Hien.
- Microeconomic Theory and Choice Models: Investigating decision-making behavior through models such as homogeneous discount factors, Walrasian equilibrium, and choice functions with pre-order structures.
- Macroeconomic Modeling under Uncertainty: Studying dynamic macro models including the Ramsey model, Euler equations, and stochastic frameworks. The Lab also aims to integrate deep learning methods to analyze equilibrium states and paths, with plans for international publication.
- Machine Learning Applications in Economics and Finance: Introducing and applying machine learning tools (e.g., neural solvers) to solve complex economic models and enhance computational efficiency.
- Environmental Economics and Policy Design: Analyzing instruments such as emission taxes and their role in shaping sustainable economic behavior, combining theory with policy relevance.
The first-year seminar series has laid a strong foundation for QREFM Lab’s future in quantitative research in economics and financial modeling.