Finance

John Shrewsberry, the president of Wells Fargo Securities, outlines how government regulation and the ongoing tight credit environment are affecting the banking industry—and how big banks can keep up with the rapid pace of change today.

New research is debunking myths about microfinance and showing how organizations can effectively address problems associated with poverty. Yale faculty Dean Karlan, Tony Sheldon, and Rodrigo Canales discuss the problems and the promise in the field of microfinance and the lessons for other kinds of social enterprise.

Shareholders own the corporation, so managers should maximize returns for shareholders, right? Corporate law expert Lynn Stout says that there are problems with this argument, starting with the fact that legally shareholders don't own a corporation. On top of that, she says, prioritization of shareholder value harms returns in the long run.

Market volatility has been at near-record levels in recent months, as investors respond to the uncertainty in Europe. Roger Ibbotson takes a historical perspective and argues that volatility, while frightening for individuals, can play an important role in the economy.

Yale SOM finance professors Frank Fabozzi, Gary Gorton, and Will Goetzmann discuss what caused the financial crisis, what we have learned since then, likely impacts of the financial reform legislation, and proposals to address unresolved issues in the housing and securitization markets.

James Chanos, the founder and president of the hedge fund Kynikos Associates, is a noted short-seller. He was one of the early doubters of Enron and more recently questioned the sustainability of the housing boom. In these videos, Chanos discusses a series of issues critical to hedge funds and short-sellers. Chanos also presented a Leaders Forum lecture at Yale SOM on October 26, 2009.

Mary Houghton is the president and co-founder of the ShoreBank Corporation, the largest and oldest community development bank in the country. She talks with Qn about how banking can be a powerful for-profit social venture.

Misunderstanding of risk was a major factor in the subprime crisis and ensuing recession. Andrew Lo argues that one has to look at both logical and emotional parts of the brain to grasp how people respond to financial risk.

Iceland may have been a forerunner of 21st century financial trends. First it profited from increasing integration with the global financial system. Then ties to the world economy helped pull it into fiscal ruin. What can an island with less than .005% of the world’s population teach us about globalization?

Keith McCullough YC ’99, founder and CEO of Research Edge, left the hedge fund industry in 2007 to try something different. He is assembling a team of research analysts who will bring the day-to-day informational edge of a hedge fund not just to institutional or extremely wealthy clients but to retail investors as well. But is the idea of an open hedge fund an oxymoron?