MIT Sloan Researcher Jose-Maria Fernandez
There is a growing consensus that the “bench-to-bedside” process of translating biomedical research into effective therapeutics is broken. A confluence of factors explains such pessimism but among the most widespread is the sense that the current the drug development business model is flawed. The development of new therapeutics is an expensive, lengthy, and risky process that challenges traditional funding vehicles, which are limited in size, Read More
MIT Sloan Alumna Judy Lewent
Recently MIT Sloan alumna Judy Lewent was inducted into the Financial Executives International Hall of Fame. A former executive vice president and chief financial officer of Merck, Lewent was recognized for her performance, leadership and integrity as a financial professional who has made significant contributions to the betterment of her organization and profession. The following is an excerpt of her remarks at the event:
“It is a momentous time for finance. As the global economy teeters on the brink, much of the world stands by holding its collective breath. This is, no doubt, a time of great anxiety. That anxiety is shared, not just by 50% of the public or 75% or even 99%. Everyone shares it.
MIT Sloan Sr. Lecturer John Minahan
How has the 2011 European sovereign credit crisis changed the pricing relationship between sovereign bonds and credit default swaps written on those bonds? Why do 401(k) investment options offer daily liquidity when such liquidity is expensive and unnecessary? If one wants to back-test a long-short investment process, how should the fall of 2008 – when shorting in many stocks was banned – be treated in the back-test?
These are just a few of the many fascinating questions our Master of Finance students will study in the 2012 Finance Research Practicum. The Practicum is an action learning course in which students work on research questions posed by external clients, clients for whom an answer to the question is a key element of an important business decision.
In the last few months, the Occupy Wall Street movement has brought a lot of attention to the finance industry. However, MIT’s Sloan School of Management has been focused on this area for over 40 years. Our finance faculty have been conducting cutting-edge research, and rigorously teaching our students, ensuring that our finance students are prepared—both in theory and practice—to take on the types of leadership roles required in this area, particularly in light of the recent economic crisis.
Thomas Kochan, MIT Sloan professor, co-founder of the Employment Policy Research Network
Source: The Boston Globe
BUSINESS GROUPS and labor have at least one thing in common right now: a frustration that our politics are producing more hot rhetoric than good jobs, even as crucial national needs go unaddressed. But if private industry and labor unions pool their money and their political influence, they can lead the way toward modernizing an aging national infrastructure that dulls America’s competitive edge. In doing so, they would also start building the kind of longer-term economic compact necessary to sustain the high-quality jobs that the nation desperately needs.
The United States needs some kind of national infrastructure bank – an entity that would provide the financing for long-overdue repairs and improvements to our roads, bridges, and other public works. There is a $2.2 trillion backlog of such projects. Amid rising concerns about federal spending, infrastructure investments are more efficient economic drivers than tax cuts or other stimulus spending in achieving these goals.
Moody’s Economy.com estimates every $1 spent on infrastructure generates a $1.59 increase in GDP. University of Massachusetts Professor Robert Pollin has shown these projects generate between 20 to 30 percent more jobs than equivalent tax cuts. Read More
![[MIT logo]](http://mitsloanexperts.mit.edu/wp-content/themes/twentyeleven/img/logo_mit.gif){kind=logo}
© Copyright 2010-2011 MIT Sloan School of Management