Graduate Student Talk: Paul Dai

In this talk, Paul Dai will bring his research in macro-finance into conversation with artworks by Cally Spooner and Cassie Thornton. Across both projects, the broader question is how financial structures become lived conditions; how they measure performance, allocate exposure, and determine where the weight of adjustment falls. By exploring measurement and burden, he will discuss how we might treat financial expansion not as a uniform sign of development but ask when it instead generates asymmetric dependence and fragility. The common thread is a simple one: finance does not merely price the world. It also measures subjects and distributes the burdens they must carry.

This event is free, but please register through the Eventbrite link in advance.

About the Speaker

Paul Dai is a second-year PhD student in Finance at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His research lies at the intersection of international macro-finance and development, with a focus on two broad questions: the causes and consequences of rising debt, and why firms and economies rely on the U.S. dollar.

Graduate Student Talks

MIT graduate students explore current exhibitions at the List Center through the lens of their own research, background, and interests. Join us for this interdisciplinary lecture series where we dive into how art and research are overlapping on MIT’s campus.

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