BUS-F 514 Topics In Finance: Finance and Society

• Second 7 weeks only
• 1.5 credits
• Prerequisite(s): Must be enrolled in MBA, 3/2 MBA, or MS in Finance

In your careers you will be faced with major questions that are related to project choices but transcend them at the same time. These are complex questions that markets and communities are facing with nowadays more than ever. What is the purpose of a corporation: is it to create shareholder value or is it something else? Should we pitch shareholders against stakeholders or can we do great by doing good? What are the economic costs of inequality? What are the effects of high-powered executive compensation? What can corporations do to address the deep running issues of discrimination in all its forms? What are the benefits to shareholders and stakeholders from a more diverse board? Should we believe corporations’ self-professed corporate social responsibility? What are the roles of institutional investors in keeping companies honest? These are some examples of the different arguments to be covered by this seminar-based course: its focus will be to discuss fundamental dimensions of corporate behavior, governance, and investors’ behavior, and their impact on our communities, from the point of view of finance. Source materials will include a combination of business cases, recent academic research, and news articles from the popular press.