CFA Institute Blogs
Robert Hagstrom makes a persuasive case for the study of liberal arts as a means of achieving investment excellence, maintaining that the knowledge conveyed in a liberal arts curriculum opens one’s mind to ideas that may well lead to valuable insights about the financial markets. Read more
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John Coates, senior research fellow in neuroscience and finance at the University of Cambridge, offers a number of fascinating lessons from a booming new field, the biology of risk, revealing how risk taking and stress transform our body chemistry and drive us to irrational exuberance or pessimism. When such chemical surges overwhelm traders and investors, they tend to suffer either euphoric overconfidence or extreme timidity. Read more
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The United States and many other countries are in the infancy of significant demographic changes. Over the next four decades, the retiree demographic will constitute an increasingly large percentage of the population. Read more
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Adapted from four lectures given by Ben Bernanke in March 2012, this book is a good primer on the workings of the central bank throughout its history, including its role in the recent financial crisis. Read more
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Thomas Mayer argues persuasively that Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) could work if the member states would embrace a new EMU architecture. Even though all past monetary unions of sovereign states have failed, Mayer remains hopeful that the EMU can develop a more robust framework and contribute to the historical work of European unification. Read more
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Although certain passages of this book are specific to South Africa’s economy and markets, it has broad applicability beyond that country’s borders. A true renaissance man, author Franco Busetti renders the arcana of markets and modern portfolio theory accessible to both the novice investor and the experienced practitioner. Read more
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This latest edition covers both the foundations of the municipal bond market and the major changes and developments in the market since 2001. The format of describing general fixed-income concepts and then applying them to municipal securities helps the reader understand broad bond topics within the narrower arena of municipal bonds. Read more
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Top posts from last month included an assessment of the impact of the fiscal cliff, an analysis of what the Shiller P/E for the S&P 500 augurs for US stocks, and an overview of how Dodd-Frank will affect OTC derivatives in foreign markets. Read more
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Ian McDonald of the University of Melbourne has assembled an enlightening and diverse collection of 24 articles — featuring surveys, theoretical modeling, and empirical testing — that explore psychology and behavioral economics in shedding light on intervention versus free-market solutions following the recent global financial crisis. Read more
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The authors point out some troubling aspects of the US stock market resulting from its radical transformation over the past 15 years, culminating in the Flash Crash and the unintended consequences of reforms meant to increase market competition. They propose a few very specific rule changes as remedies. Read more
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