The Fed: What Is It Doing? Is It Working? What Are the Risks?
Kate Davidson, who reports on economic policy for the Wall Street Journal, led a discussion with Frederic Mishkin, Alfred Lerner Professor of Banking and Financial Institutions at Columbia Business School and former governor of the Federal Reserve System, and Patricia Mosser, Director of the MPA Program in Economic Policy Management at Columbia University’s SIPA and former senior manager at the New York Fed’s open market desk.
The discussion addressed whether the Federal Reserve’s efforts to bolster the economy during the coronavirus pandemic, including new emergency lending programs, are working, and what more officials may need to do in the months ahead to shore up the economy.
Co-sponsored as part of Columbia Business School’s Leading Through Crisis series.
June 30, 2020 | Webinar | 12:30 p.m.
Leading a Mission-Driven Organization
The Richman Center and the U.S. Business Law Academy co-hosted a webinar featuring David M. Schizer, Dean Emeritus and the Harvey R. Miller Professor of Law and Economics at Columbia Law School. Drawing on his experience as Dean of Columbia Law School and as CEO of an international humanitarian organization, Professor Schizer discussed why the work of nonprofits is often inspiring but sometimes frustrating. Like in for-profit businesses, the challenges faced by nonprofits usually stem from problems of incentives and information—a theme, rooted in law and economics, that he emphasizes in the Deals course he teaches in the U.S. Business Law Academy and in the Nonprofits course he teaches at Columbia Law. Moderated by Adam Kolker, Dean and Executive Director of International and Comparative Law Programs, Columbia Law School.
Co-sponsored with Columbia Law School’s U.S. Business Law Academy.
May 19, 2020 | Webinar | 10:00 a.m.
The Global Economy After the Coronavirus
COVID-19 is having a devastating impact on the global economy, resulting in rising unemployment, fear, and uncertainty. The Richman Center hosted a discussion of what to expect in the near term and beyond.
Speakers
- Abby Joseph Cohen, Advisory Director and Senior Investment Strategist at Goldman Sachs and Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School
- Alexis Crow, Head of Geopolitical Investing at PwC and Senior Fellow at the Richard Paul Richman Center for Business, Law, and Public Policy
- Moderated by Pierre Yared, the MUTB Professor of International Business and the Vice Dean for Executive Education at Columbia Business School
Co-sponsored as part of Columbia Business School’s Leading Through Crisis series.
May 5, 2020 | Webinar | 12:30 p.m.
An Economist Walks into a Brothel: A Book Talk with Allison Schrager
Originally scheduled for March 31, this event has been postponed until Fall 2020.
What can paparazzi, extreme surfers, professional poker players, and sex workers teach us about risk? Join the Richman Center in a book talk with Allison Schrager to explore this and other questions about risk.
Allison Schrager is an economist, award-winning journalist, and author of An Economist Walks into a Brothel: And Other Unexpected Places to Understand Risk. Allison, who graduated from Columbia University with a PhD in economics in 2006, returns to her alma mater to discuss her latest book and what it can teach us about managing risk, understanding uncertainty, and maximizing positive consequences. The conversation will be moderated by Jeremy Weltmer, MBA ’20.
Held in partnership with the Program for Economic Research at the Department of Economics.
The Global Consequences of the US Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017
With the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, the US government had great goals of improving US competitiveness by lowering the corporate tax rate, enabling the movement of money back to the United States, and driving job growth in the country. More than two years after enactment, there are a number of important questions to consider. Has corporate behavior changed as a result of the legislation? More broadly, how are businesses in the United States and abroad reacting to the changes? What is happening to tax policies around the world? And how might this change in the future, given the resulting deficits, rising US debt levels, and the impending US election?
Join a panel of economists and tax experts as they discuss the global consequences of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Speakers
- Stephan Eilers, Managing Partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
- Daniel Shaviro, Wayne Perry Professor of Taxation at NYU School of Law
- Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate and University Professor at Columbia University
- Moderated by Jesse Greene, Executive in Residence at Columbia Business School
This event is open to the public and on the record. Registration is required.
February 24, 2020 | Uris Hall, Room 142 | 6:30 p.m.–7:45 p.m.
The Brussels Effect: How the EU Rules the World
Join us for a special evening with Anu Bradford, Henry L. Moses Professor of Law and International Organization at Columbia Law School, as she discusses her new book The Brussels Effect: How the European Union Rules the World (2020, Oxford University Press). The discussion will be moderated by Peter Coy, Economics Editor at Bloomberg Businessweek, with remarks by David Schizer, Dean Emeritus and Harvey R. Miller Professor of Law and Economics at Columbia Law School.
This event is co-sponsored by the Richman Center and the Jerome A. Chazen Institute for Global Business.
February 19, 2020 | Faculty House | 6:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m.
Public Aspects of Private Equity
Private equity plays an important role in investment markets and the broader economy. Private equity funds—managed by general partners, or GPs—take stakes in companies, exercise control, and actively seek to improve the performance of their portfolio companies. They do so in pursuit of financial returns for their investors (limited partners, or LPs) higher than the returns available in public markets. Private equity has become a key engine of investment markets, seeking absolute return while driving performance and efficiency in portfolio companies. Private equity is by definition private, and its activities are generally opaque.
This event will explore the public aspects of private equity, including questions such as:
- What public impact does private equity have?
- What ESG (environmental, social, and governance) considerations, if any, should GPs consider in their activities? Does the involvement of public institutions as LPs affect the social responsibilities of a fund?
- What actions do LPs take to align the activities of the funds in which they invest with their own ESG commitments and values? How do these actions compare across asset classes?
- How are pioneer asset managers navigating these complex issues? What best practices can they offer?
- What role, if any, should public institutions—for example, pension funds and endowments—play in seeking public good as LPs in private equity funds?
Speakers
- Chris Cozzone, Principal, Bain Capital Double Impact
- Donna Hitscherich, Senior Lecturer in the Discipline of Business and Director, Private Equity Program
- Emily Mendell, Managing Director, Institutional Limited Partners Association
- Moderated by Aamir A. Rehman, Senior Fellow, Richman Center
Co-sponsored by the Richard Paul Richman Center for Business, Law, and Public Policy and the Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership, in partnership with the Private Equity Program. This event is open to the public and on the record. Registration is required.
November 19, 2019 | Uris Hall, Room 142 | 6:30 p.m.–7:45 p.m.
Fintech Banking at the Crossroads
Fintech companies still have not cracked the code when it comes to banking. The fintech charter experiment conducted by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has gone nowhere, and banking regulators still seem unwilling to embrace the tech-based business models that consumers love. Can innovative fintech companies gain access to consumer deposits and payments, or will banks retain their hold over the system?
Speakers
- Andrei Cherny, Co-founder and CEO of Aspiration
- H. Rodgin Cohen, Senior Chairman of Sullivan & Cromwell
- Hans Morris, Managing Partner of Nyca Partners
- Moderated by Todd H. Baker, Senior Fellow, Richman Center
This event is open to the public and on the record. Registration is required.
November 12, 2019 | Uris Hall, Room 142 | 6:30 p.m.–7:45 p.m.
The End of Shareholder Primacy? Understanding the Business Roundtable Statement
“Shareholder primacy” has long been at the center of corporate governance, standing for the proposition that the primary responsibility of corporations is to increase value for the company and its shareholders. Recently, the Business Roundtable—an association of leading US CEOs—released a declaration that suggested a different corporate purpose, framed in terms of the need to deliver value to all stakeholders and to drive sustainable growth, a move away from shareholder primacy.
Will this declaration affect the operation and governance of US businesses? Is the statement a sign of a true commitment, or merely empty rhetoric fashioned to respond to the political moment? In this public lecture, panelists will explore the Business Roundtable’s statement through ideological, historical, and political lenses. The panel will also debate the doctrine of shareholder primacy, and whether changing corporate governance is the right approach to solving social problems.
Speakers
- Jeffrey N. Gordon, Richard Paul Richman Professor of Law at Columbia Law School and Co-Director of the Richard Paul Richman Center for Business, Law, and Public Policy
- Edward Rock, Martin Lipton Professor of Law at NYU and Director of the Institute for Corporate Governance and Finance
- Moderated by Wei Jiang, Arthur F. Burns Professor of Free and Competitive Enterprise at Columbia Business School
Co-sponsored by the Richard Paul Richman Center for Business, Law, and Public Policy and the Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership. This event is open to the public and on the record. Registration is required to attend.