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Finance

The Finance Department is comprised of a group of talented scholars and accomplished teachers who work in areas at the cutting edge of today’s research in asset pricing, corporate finance, governance and strategy, and risk management.

Mission Statement

The notion of risk is the common thread underlying these areas of research. Risk affects all facets of economic and financial activities and is central to financial theory. Our department seeks to advance understanding of complex phenomena involving risk and to provide our students with a rich and broad program of study that will prepare them for career success.

Faculty research programs develop and apply valuation methods, computational techniques, econometric methods, and empirical approaches to examine a wide variety of financial phenomena and policy issues.

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Our Philosophy

Our research interests are broad and inclusive—roughly balanced between developing new theories of financial markets and institutions and empirically investigating existing financial issues and questions.

Our teaching goal is to communicate the power of financial ideas and applications across a wide range of audiences: undergraduates, MBA students, and executives. Whether the domain is global financial markets, the operations of a particular firm, or personal savings and investment decisions, financial literacy is increasingly important.

Research Interests

  • Asset pricing
  • Contract and agency theory
  • Corporate finance
  • Corporate governance
  • Financial econometrics
  • Financial regulation
  • Fixed income markets
  • Life-cycle finance
  • Mathematical finance
  • Mergers and acquisitions
  • Real options
  • Risk management

Department Chair

Fernando Zapatero View Profile
Fernando Zapatero

Richard D. Cohen Professor in Finance

Department Chair, Finance

Finance Department Faculty

Finance PhD Students