171 - 180 of 335 results for: CSI::certificate

This MBA elective explores innovative ways that start-ups are expanding the financial capacities of households and small businesses. What are the financial frictions that household/business facing impactful FinTech startups are addressing? What economic and behavioral forces are governing the successes of these startups? How is the choice of funding/business model impacting growth/scaling strategies? How is the competitive landscape evolving for traditional banks, established tech platforms, and FinTech startups? While the center of attention will be on disruption of financial services within the US legal and regulatory environments, we will frequently highlight recent innovations in Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

Financial crises are as old as financial markets themselves. There are many similarities between historical events. The crisis of 2008, for example, is far from unique. More often than not financial crises are the result of bubbles in certain asset classes or can be linked to a specific form of financial innovation. This course gives an overview of the history of financial crises, asset price bubbles, banking collapses and debt crises. We start with the Tulip mania in 1636 and end with the recent Euro crisis. The purpose of the course is to understand the causes of past crises and to develop a conceptual framework that ties common elements together. We will discuss the lessons that we can draw for financial markets today.

This course is designed to help students understand the connections between money (the Federal Reserve), financial markets, and the macroeconomy. How are interest rates determined, and how does the Federal Reserve conduct monetary policy? How do Federal Reserve actions impact the US as well as other economies? What economic factors drive the yield curves in different bond markets? We will pay particular attention to the banking system, with an eye toward understanding the function, valuation, and regulation of banks. We touch on a number of topics including the role of the Federal Reserve as a lender of last resort during financial crises, unconventional monetary policy tools such as quantitative easing and forward guidance, cryptocurrency, and emerging market financial crises. We will often begin class with a discussion of current macro-financial market events in the context of our course coverage.

This course is a survey of China's financial system, including its banking industry, monetary policy structure, and financial markets (bonds, derivatives, equities, foreign exchange, alternative asset management, and related markets). The goal is an integrated view of how capital, risk, and liquidity are intermediated within China and cross-border. Current trends (including liberalization of markets and financial stability) will be emphasized. Coverage will be through lectures, reading of research, including primary source documents and secondary (journalistic and analyst) commentary. There will be a range of subject-matter-expert speakers. Using our special video-technology enabled classrooms at Stanford and at the Stanford Center at PKU, this course is able to draw live speakers in Beijing and to meet jointly with students at Beijing University. Students will participate actively in class discussion, make a 5-minute (per student in each group) research presentation, and submit a 10-page term paper.

Investing for Good will introduce students to the entire spectrum of purposeful, values-driven, and impact investing. We examine the field from the perspective of an institutional investor (i.e. fund manager, investment advisor, endowment manager, head of a family office, etc). Our goal is to have students emerge with a practical and analytical framework for: 1. evaluating impact and mission-aligned investments across multiple asset classes and sectors; 2. constructing a portfolio using impact as a lens; 3. designing an impact investment company; and 4. understanding the many practical and theoretical challenges confronting this exciting emerging field.We start by exploring some fundamental questions: what is a purposeful or impact investment; can impact investments be defined along a spectrum between conventional investing and philanthropy; whose money is it; what are the constraints and opportunities; how do we (re)define return and/or performance. We briefly analyze impact investing in the context of modern portfolio theory. We then develop a framework for portfolio construction and evaluation across four criteria: risk, return, liquidity, and impact. Through a combination of class dialogues, role plays, and case discussions, we will explore a wide variety of asset classes, impact themes, and investment challenges. A series of team-based investment committee simulations will comprise a significant portion of the course and will provide a significant experiential learning experience.Previous experience in finance, investing, social enterprise, entrepreneurship, or philanthropy is not required, but both helpful and welcomed. While first year students are encouraged to enroll, students who have limited familiarity with the basics of investing and corporate finance are strongly encouraged to purchase David Swensen's "Pioneering Portfolio Management" and cover the recommended chapters in advance of the course. It's is also important to note that this class will require financial modeling and detailed investment analysis.Many of the issues we'll be tackling have no unambiguous answers. Lively discussion and debate will be necessary and expected.

Policy Time is about the policy choices faced by senior elected officials, especially in times of crisis. Our main perspective is American and executive: decisions faced by the U.S. President, Governors, and their advisors, but the lessons can extend to certain international settings as well. We have three main goals (1) building your personal policy approach, in which you will figure out how your own values translate into real-world policy choices; (2) learning what it's like to be a senior policymaker through Q&A sessions with them; and (3) learning about crisis management and leadership in government and policy.One session per week will be either a lecture and discussion of a particular policy issue, or a conversation and Q&A with a past or current senior policymaker. The second session each week will be a small group meeting (6-8 students per group) to discuss policy choices and the lessons presented by the guests in the first session. We will use policy "worksheets" as a tool to focus your thought process, frame the small-group discussions, and drive you to make hard choices. You will write 5-10 weekly short memos to explain your choices.Each week will cover a different policy topic. Likely topics include immigration reform, climate change, debt reduction, and the role of the corporation in a capitalist economy. Our exact topic schedule is flexible based on current events and guest speaker availability.

Political gamesmanship, financial crises, and financial innovation come hand-in-hand with real estate finance, which has played a central role in the rise and fall of economies, financial institutions, and the lives of ordinary Americans. This course explores these issues in depth. We examine the past, present, and future of the complex political economy surrounding real estate finance, its impact on markets, and the business challenges and opportunities arising from it, both domestically and abroad, before and after the financial crisis. We then tackle recent trends like the rise of shadow banks, fintech, and proptech. Through a mix of speakers, case studies, and hands-on exercises, we examine the problems these industries are solving and creating.Greg Buchak is an Assistant Professor in the Finance group at Stanford. He received his PhD in financial economics and JD in law from the University of Chicago. His research focuses on the industrial organization of financial intermediation and it¿s consequences in the real estate industry.Chris Mahowald is actively involved in the real estate investment business as the managing partner of RSF Partners, a series of real estate private equity funds totaling over $1 billion in equity. The firm invests across product types throughout the U.S. During his career, he has focused on value investing with deep experience in distressed mortgage debt. He also teaches real estate investment at the GSB ( GSBGEN 306: Real Estate Investment).

This is a class on how public policy gets made at the highest levels of the federal government. In the first part of the quarter, lectures and discussions lead in to classroom simulations, in which students role-play as advisors to a U.S. president. You will learn how to analyze policy problems and design solutions, taking into account the multi-dimensional aspects of making federal policy and the many constraints upon those decisions. The second part of the class is a multi-week role-playing legislative simulation. Students will role-play as Members of the House of Representatives and Senate, or as senior advisors to a president. You will participate in legislative debate, voting, offering amendments, and extensive policy and legislative negotiation, with the goal of enacting a new law. As this course requires extensive in-person interaction, students will be required to physically attend every class session that meets in-person. Zoom participation will be all-or-nothing for all students in the class, as determined by the instructor. There is no option to participate virtually when the rest of the class is meeting in person.

This is a course on how energy and environmental markets work, and the regulatory mechanisms that have been and can be used to achieve desired policy goals. The course uses a electricity market game as a central teaching tool. In the game, students play the role of electricity generators and retailers in order to gain an understanding of how market rules(including environmental regulations and renewable energy mandates) affect the business strategy of market participants, and in turn economic and environmental outcomes. The goal of the course is to provide students with both theoretical and hands-on understanding of important energy and environmental market concepts that are critical to market functioning but not always widely appreciated. Concepts covered include: 1)regulated price-setting versus price-setting through market mechanisms, 2) BTU arbitrage in input energy choices, 3) uniform price vs. pay-as-bid auctions, 4) the ability and incentive to exercise unilateral market power, 5) unilateral versus coordinated exercise of market power, 6) transmission congestion, 7) forward contracts and their effect on market functioning, 8) dynamic pricing of electricity and active involvement of final demand, 9)the nature of energy reserves, 10) carbon pricing mechanisms including taxes and cap-and trade systems, 11) renewable portfolio standards and other renewable energy incentives,12) determination of levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and its impact on new capacity investment decisions, and 13) interactions between environmental mechanisms and regulations. We will also discuss the key features of the markets for major sources of energy such as oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear, solar, wind, and biomass. The course is useful background for private sector roles in energy production, research, management, trading, investment, and government and regulatory affairs; government positions in policymaking and regulation; research and policy functions in academia, think tanks, or consultancies; and non-profit advocacy roles related to energy and the environment.