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All Insights Articles

  • What Do the Numbers Say About Global Health?

    The state of global health is never static. The past century has seen some of the greatest advances in life expectancy and overall health in human history. And yet huge disparities exist between rich and poor nations in measures such as infant mortality and life expectancy. Richard Skolnik, a global health expert, talks about how to use the data to inform better decision-making—and to save lives.

  • Can Insurance Help the Poor Manage Risk?

    Rainfall insurance can help a farmer survive a drought year and ultimately increase prosperity in rural areas. So why aren’t more using it? Many people in developing countries rely on informal insurance, such as a family network, rather than formal insurance. Yale SOM professor Mushfiq Mobarak’s research has tested the effects of formal insurance for farmers in India and elucidated how the two systems interact.

    Mobarak graphic
  • What Is Factor-Based Investing?

    Asset classes have long been the building blocks of investment portfolios, but when apparently uncorrelated investments moved in sync during the financial crisis, it raised fundamental questions about whether diversified portfolios actually were diversified. Eugene Podkaminer ’01, vice president of capital markets research at Callan Associates, discusses whether there is a better way to understand the deep forces driving these results.

  • What Does It Take to Survive on Wall Street?

    Any financial institution that is going to last for decades will have to survive a crisis or two—most likely by adapting and innovating, perhaps by leaving behind chunks of its old identity. Yale Insights spoke with James Gorman, chairman and CEO of Morgan Stanley, one of two major investment banks to survive the 2008 financial crisis, about how the firm has managed to refashion itself and prepare for the future.

    James Gorman
  • How Can Businesses Lead On Sustainability?

    Problems like climate change, resource depletion, and pollution can seem so large as to be beyond the capacity of any individual person, or even corporation, to address. Peter Bakker, president of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, argues that business leaders can take a first step by incorporating sustainability concerns into how they think about risk management.

    Sustainability
  • Market Rule Breakers Pay a Price

    Organizations that don’t conform to the norms of their market category are penalized with higher prices, according to new research co-authored by Professor Amandine Ody-Brasier.

  • Study Explains Pitfalls in Gift Giving

    Research by Professor Nathan Novemsky and Yale SOM doctoral student Ernest Baskin helps to explain why we give bad gifts.

  • Can Pharma Reinvent Itself?

    As patents on the blockbuster drugs of the 1990s expire, the pharmaceutical industry is facing—not for the first time—questions about the sustainability of its economic model. Clive Meanwell, CEO of The Medicines Company, says that the industry can help patients and make money by changing the nature of its relationship to the healthcare system.

  • How Risky Is That Hedge Fund?

    Hedge funds are risky. But getting beyond that bromide and evaluating the prospects of a particular fund means understanding everything from internal operations to investors’ incentives to counterparty and market conditions. David Belmont ’92, chief risk officer of Commonfund, gives a tour of the inner workings of hedge fund risk.

    Card stacking pyramid with USD bills instead of cards
  • What’s Next For Social Enterprise?

    Social enterprises, ventures that seek to address significant societal problems while also achieving financial sustainability, have become a bigger part of the business world. Chuck Slaughter ’90, founder of Living Goods, discusses what it will take for the field to produce a breakout star.

    Illustration of several lightbulbs illuminating with dollar signs indicating idea as well