YouTube - New Sports Management Minor up and running at SBU!: "Just a reminder that there is now a sports management minor at SBU. It is available to you if you from any minor. Here Rodney Paul tells us what classes are available to fill slots this semester."
Former SBU School of Business Professor, Dr. Steve Horan, will give a talk this Thursday Nov. 5th at the University Club above the Hickey. The event is scheduled for 8:30 am and breakfast will be served. Dr. Horan will discuss various topics dealing with Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. Dr. Horan is currently Head, Professional Education Content and Private Wealth for the CFA Institute.
The event is $10 for those outside the School of Business.
Dr. Mahar is listed in the "100 Best Professors Who Blog" article dated October 12, 2009 posted on www.onlinecollege.org/blog/. He is listed at #76 under the Economics section. Check it out.
As you may have heard, we launched a new graduate MBA Behavioral Finance class semester this semester. While the semester is not even half way over I wanted to report on the class. So far it is going very well even though we do not have a traditional text book and are relying on readings and a series of books.
The students have projects to do which either replicate existing behavioral economics work or extend the literature in interesting ways. For instance one student is testing the impact of learning on behavioral biases by testing introductory finance students as well as upper level students. Another student is examining the impact of social groups on portfolio changes following the market collapse. (Other projects include: determining if what consumers say is important in advance really is when the purchase is made; a look at risk taking by age and gender; and a survey of behavioral literature.)
In addition to the readings we have been using many short videos that address the brain and its impact on finance and economics (neuroeconomics). For instance recently we addressed what has traditionally been seen as a challenge to economists: why rational people would freely give money to others (charities).
Many hypotheses have been proposed that attempt to reconcile this apparent irrational behavior. These include the desire for public recognition, wanting to be apart of something, how you view yourself, and the popular "warm glow" which basically says it feels good to do good.
New technologies now allow researchers to peer into the brain to find the cause of this "warm glow". The findings suggest that there is more to it than meets the eye. Specifically the glow has roots as both an emotional (chemical) reaction as well as rational (thinking) response.
The thinking part suggests that people do want to be seen as generous and as the type of person that does "good" things. This is true even if the only person "seeing it" is the actual giver. In other words they behave as they do to fit their view of themselves.
The chemical side (which appears to be dominated by Oxytocin and Dopamin in case you were wondering) is particularly interesting since it begs the question of why would the body have such a response from an evolutionary perspective.
This led researchers to what in finance we would call an out of sample test; they considered monkeys. (Although I am not sure if they felt the monkeys were further evolved or less evolved that humans.)
The monkeys' behaviors are similar to that in humans that have vexed economic researchers and at least suggest that what at first glance appears to be irrational may be well grounded in our evolution.
Examples of monkey behaviors and their corresponding human counterpart:
* Monkeys shared their nuts. People give to charities. Why? It makes us (and probably the monkeys too, but they are not speaking right now) feel good to help others) (Uh, BonaResponds reference here? :) )
* Monkeys trusted each other. Without this trust the trades would not have occurred. People are the same way. We are hardwired to "trust others". This makes social living easier.
* Envy and Fairness both matter: Monkeys who were perfectly content with a dry cracker grew jealous and upset when other monkeys got a better prize. On one hand this is a long term motivator, on the other this can be to cause of fighting and unhappiness.
A fascinating class so far. Stay tuned, we are only half way!
"As might be expected, the hot trend these days is behavioural. (That’s apart from the painful soul-searching among prominent economists who discovered in the current global crisis that their cherished beliefs about free markets were not scientific truths.)
Last month, Prof. Mahar posted a summary of a psychological study showing that temptation is a much stronger force than people realize. He wondered jokingly if the Lord’s Prayer might make for useful financial advice.
His own solution to curb irrational tendencies? Make a plan in advance and put the whole investing process on autopilot. “Take the discretion out of investing so you won’t be able to take unwise chances or take risks that a rational investor would not.” "
"[Only] About 90 accredited schools world-wide offer the accelerated M.B.A..
But the degree's growing popularity and reach led The Wall Street Journal to take its first close look at accelerated M.B.A. programs."
Getting through in one year is a definite upside, so are the pluses of an MBA! Look at the numbers on the left!
A downside? Many classes, little time.
"Some students said they wish they had more time to absorb case studies. Others said that the fast-paced curriculum was exhausting, leaving little time for extracurricular activities,...
It's all true, administrators say. "These students want to be taught, and then they want to move on," says Sean Rickard, director of Cranfield's M.B.A. program, adding that students have no time to do anything but study. "They never stop. It's five days of intensive lecturing and projects, week after week ...They begin to realize they can handle any problem you throw at them.""
Kristin Paul and Dr. Rodney Paul had the paper “Noise Trading and Pointspread Movements in the NCAA Football Betting Market” accepted for publication in the Journal of Business, Industry, and Economics.
SBU alumnus Kevin McNamara, ’02, John Watson, and Carol Wittmeyer published “The Utilization of a Succession Plan to Effectively Change Leadership and Ownership in a Small Business Enterprise” in The Journal of American Academy of Business (September 2009).
Dr. Kimberly Young had two book chapters published in The Praeger International Collection on Addictions published by Praeger.
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BonaResponds meetings
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BonaResponds General Meeting Monday, September 9, 2019 at 5:15-6:00 in Swan
101.
Topics will include Local workdays, HaitiScholarships, PositiveRipples...
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