Experience Stern | News & Events

Richard Berner, the first Director of the US Treasury’s Office of Financial Research (OFR), spoke to Stern faculty and students about financial stability, financial regulation and the goals of OFR to measure and report on the health of the financial system.

Excerpt from Bloomberg Businessweek -- "A desire to make a difference in the world is also a contributing factor, says Scott Stimpfel, assistant dean of student engagement and innovation at Stern. In fact, many of his students are pursuing social entrepreneurship, or at least getting exposed to it, as early as high school, he says."

Excerpt from Bloomberg -- "The markets are assumed to be bipolar. Apple could do no wrong a year ago and now everyone's decided that it's had this huge fall from grace. It is still the product that's a self-expressive benefit, it says something about you, it stands for innovation, heritage, incredible price premium. Hands down, the best brand in the world."

Excerpt from MIT Technology Review -- "NYU’s Sundararajan believes the time could be right for some (non-vertical-specific sharing marketplace) service like it to catch on, though he believes integrating with Facebook heavily is a strategic risk because any budding competitor can do the same."

Excerpt from Reuters -- "It is still 'early days,' Richard Berner, the newly appointed director of the U.S. Treasury's Office of Financial Research, said, when asked what lessons the United States might learn [from Cyprus] on the durability of financial markets. I think it's probably early days and too soon to draw those lessons, Berner said after a speech at New York University's Stern School of Business. 'That's something that's going to be worth looking at.'"

Excerpt from the Washington Post -- “'The one big lesson is, it can be done,' Henry said. 'You can get to yes. You can turn things around.'”

In a new study entitled “Immunity,” NYU Stern Assistant Professor of Economics Vasiliki Skreta and her co-authors, Karthik Reddy of Harvard Law School and Moritz Schularick of the University of Bonn, examine the political immunity provisions which exist throughout much of the modern democratic world. The researchers show that the incidence of corruption soars when politicians are placed above the law, and demonstrate the mechanisms behind the phenomenon.

Excerpt from Zócalo Public Square -- "In 'The Righteous Mind,' Haidt argues that our morals and beliefs are far less reason-based than many of us would like to think.  We often come to a conclusion first and then think up the reasons for it next; as a result, we misjudge people who feel differently.  If we can take responsibility for breaking out of our righteous mindsets, we just might be able to understand and get along with one another better."

Excerpt from Marketplace -- "In the book, Alter reveals that in general we are sharper, clearer thinkers when it's cold outside and that the colors around us can impact our mood -- from how angry we are to how willing we are to buy. He says his book is not so much about taking advantage of others as it is about educating consumers on what these cues are, because once they recognize them they can cope with them and deal with them and sometimes even harness them for personal benefit."

Excerpt from Bloomberg Businessweek -- "Discipline means focusing on what needs to be done to generate prosperity. Not austerity, not necessarily extreme measures...Discipline means a long-term focus on pragmatic solutions."

Excerpt from Marketplace  ---  "The risks are real. If the economy falters, rich borrowers could see their home and investment values drop. Or, adjustable mortgage rates could rise, eating up their profit. As for the banks, they’re enjoying this new demand from the wealthy. 'The banks are now trying to find new borrowers to lend to,' NYU's Van Nieuwerburgh says, 'and this is some loan business that, in their view, is pretty safe and they’re happy to do.'”

Excerpt from The Wall Street Journal -- "The stock's trailing and prospective price-to-earnings multiples are 4.7 and 6.4 times, respectively, and its prospective multiple of enterprise value to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization is 1.5 times. On all those measures, Apollo is in the cheapest tenth of U.S.-listed companies, according to figures from Aswath Damodaran, finance professor at New York University's Stern School of Business."

Excerpt from the New York Post -- "From weather conditions to simple, strong and self-relevant names, we’re easily swayed to part with our money when the conditions are right. The trick is recognizing those conditions when they arise, and doing our best to avoid the temptation to overspend."

Excerpt from USA Today -- "Peter Blair Henry is dean of New York University's Stern School of Business. As part of President Obama's transition team, he spearheaded a review of lending organizations during the peak of the financial crisis. Henry offers three foundational tenets that he submits will reinvigorate growth in struggling first-world countries: discipline, clarity and trust."

Excerpt from CNBC -- "My general impression is that they're really focused on this. In two respects they want to get their arms around the dimensions of the shadow banking system and I think they're probably going to engage in a process of regulating it. I'm quite sure they have the assets to deal with it on the balance sheet of the state so on balance I think my impression is that it's been a bit of a surprise but there's been an alert response."

Excerpt from the Financial Times -- "In 2009, Prof Philippon predicted that banker pay would start moving back towards parity with other white-collar professions that require similar skills – just as it did after the Great Depression in the 1930s. The academic, who works as adviser to the French economics and finance minister, says this is now starting to take shape. 'Bankers’ pay in the US will go down by 30 per cent relative to the private sector. But this process takes many years.'”

Excerpt from The New York Times -- "Evidence suggests that the current high volume of soft-drink consumption has generated enormous social costs. So to those who have lobbied successfully against a soda tax, I pose a simple question: How do the benefits of your right to drink tax-free sodas outweigh the substantial costs of defending it?"

Excerpt from the Huffington Post -- "India and South America house immense innovation that can, and should, be centers of gravity for impact investing -- and a source of socially impactful innovation for the rest of the world. We eagerly anticipate the leadership of these two regions on the global stage."

Excerpt from Bloomberg Businessweek -- “'If I were a superstar, I might look around, think about what’s happened to BlackBerry, and say, "Thanks, but no thanks,”' says Al Lieberman, a marketing professor at NYU and co-author of The Entertainment Marketing Revolution."

Excerpt from Big Think -- "One of my favorite examples in the book follows a series of hospital patients who were recovering from gall bladder surgery. By accident rather than design, the hospital was designed so half the patients’ rooms looked out onto a brick wall, whereas the others looked out onto a small stand of leafy trees. After surgery, the patients were randomly assigned to recover in one of the two room types. The difference in recovery time and wellbeing was immense. Patients with a view of the trees returned home a day sooner, experienced fewer depressive episodes, and needed half as many painkillers. All this from a view of trees!"

Excerpt from Slate -- "It seems crazy to suggest that the same person can be luckier in love because she wears a red T-shirt, that the same football player becomes more aggressive when he dons a black uniform, and that strongmen become weak in the presence of pink paint—but, at least as far as experimental evidence goes, those effects are real."

Excerpt from the Huffington Post -- "It may be wise for women to get comfortable being less liked. It may also help to know there are several ways to limit the social cost of asking, and often finesse it. By getting ready to be hard on the problem, soft on the person, women can warmly win their well-deserved place at the table."

Excerpt from NPR -- "The better brands don't want to be in mediocre distribution. Better distribution doesn't want to carry mediocre brands. So there's always a tussle and an attempt to move up the ladder in terms of finding a husband or a wife that's smarter and better looking than you."

Excerpt from Bloomberg TV -- "I thought after last month's release where a number of people, including Fed Governor Jeremy Stein, said that people were reaching for yield and this was a potentially dangerous activity that there would be some further push or some further assent for a tightening so I agree that it's not unexpected but disappointing."

Excerpt from Popular Science -- "Cultural legacies have a similar influence on how we perceive people and social interactions. Just as Chinese people are more likely than Americans to focus on objects, rather than their backgrounds, so they also believe that people are overlapping entities who relate to the other people in their lives. Westerners (people from the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, for example) are more likely to believe that they are distinct from other people, so even when they become very close to friends or loved ones, they still see themselves as individuals."