Yale SOM faculty describe how their research illuminates key business questions. Learn more about research on the Faculty Insights homepage.

Shyam Sunder on Accounting Regulation
James L. Frank Professor of Accounting, Economics, and Finance
Topic: Prof. Shyam Sunder describes how failures in accounting regulations contributed to the financial crisis.

Nicholas Barberis on the Psychology of the Financial Crisis
Stephen & Camille Schramm Professor of Finance
Topic: In a talk at the Yale University reunion, Barberis described psychological factors, such as overconfidence and groupthink, that may have contributed to the development of the current economic downturn.

(1:00:18) June 2009

William Goetzmann on the Subprime Crisis
Edwin J. Beinecke Professor of Finance and Management Studies & Director of the International Center for Finance
Topic: Models created by mortgage lenders to measure risk had a crucial flaw: The data they used went back only so far, meaning that they severely underestimated what a real drop in housing prices would look like.
Read the paper, "The Subprime Crisis and House Price Appreciation," discussed in this video.

(6:49) June 2009

Fiona Scott Morton on Medicare Part D
Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Professor of Economics
Topic: Medicare Part D has allowed consumers to get prescription drugs for lower prices than if uninsured, but only for drugs with therapeutic substitutes. For drugs without competition, they cost just as much as for those without insurance.
Read more about Fiona Scott Morton’s work.

(10:20) June 2009

Keith Chen on Cognitive Dissonance
Associate Professor of Economics
Topic: Keith Chen looks at cognitive dissonance from the point of view of an economist and determines that decades of psychological studies contain some key flaws.
Read the paper, “Rationalization and Cognitive Dissonance: Do Choices Affect or Reflect Preferences?”(pdf), discussed in this video.

MP3 (66:09) April 2009

Martijn Cremers on Active Management
Associate Professor of Finance
Topic: Research into fund managers and how their level of activity played into fund size, expenses, turnover, and ultimately, performance.
Read the paper, "How Active Is Your Fund Manager? A New Measure that Predicts Performance," discussed in this video.

(64:46) March 2009

Oliver Rutz on Online Advertising
Assistant Professor of Marketing
Topic: Internet Search Advertising