Continuing Education Course Finder: ECOCS01-1a

Political Economics of the Current Financial Crisis (ECOCS01-1a)

Status: Open

Fee: $375.00

Timing: 10 sessions from October 8, 2009 - December 17, 2009 on Thursdays, 7-9PM no class 11/26

Course Description: Select the answer you think is best and come prepared to discuss in class:

1. Is Finance:
a.) the lifeblood of our economy
b.) a significant industry where we have a comparative advantage

2. Were corporate profits in the financial sector too big a part of our overall profitability?

3. Will the effects of regulation on leveraging and risk-taking create new problems?

4. How do we distinguish between over regulation, under-regulation, or effective regulation?

The goal of this course is to help student explore these questions in the context of the economic and financial dimensions of the current credit crisis. Class discussions will spotlight the usual suspects (the subprime mortgage market and the practices of securitization) and examine some of the current solutions being proposed (private-public partnerships; i.e. TARP and TALF funds). Asking the right question is as important as finding the right answer to effectively address our current economic conditions.

Outside speakers from the investment management community will complement the readings and class discussion.

Recommended reading: The Subprime Solution: How Today's Global Financial Crisis Happened, and What to Do about It by Robert J. Shiller, Princeton University Press, 2008.

Instructor(s): Tim Nguyen

Instructor(s) Bio: Tim Nguyen works in the University of Connecticut Foundation assisting in the management of a multi-asset class endowment. He is an Adjunct Faculty member at the University of Connecticut School of Business. Prior to joining the University of Connecticut as an investment professional and faculty, Mr. Nguyen was with the Texas Treasury, where he initiated and led the firm’s Alternative Investments Division. Prior to his training in institutional investing, Mr. Nguyen had the pleasure of working at the following financial services companies: MBIA, BNP Paribas (Financial Institutions Group), Fitch Rating Agency (Public Finance Division), American Skandia, and The Royal Bank of Scotland (Financial Fraud). Mr. Nguyen is a co-founder of Global Association of Alternative Investor, a non-profit organization focusing on alternative investments. He holds an M.A. from Yale University with a focus in Ethics and Economics and an M.P.A. from Columbia University.