SFI Business Network members and their guests gathered recently at Morgan Stanley World Headquarters in New York for “Risk: The Human Factor,” a Network topical meeting focused on the human element in financial and economic systems.
Chris Wood, SFI VP for administration and director of the Business Network, says the human component of risk is frequently overlooked.
“Risk management and risk mitigation have been important functions in our financial systems since their inception, and they have obviously received added attention in the wake of the economic crisis of 2008,” he says. “Arguably one of the important contributors to that crisis was the human element – our willingness to continue highly risky activities when there was increasing evidence of a bubble that was about to burst.”
At the October 10 meeting, leading members of the financial community combined their unique perspectives with those of experts in behavioral economics, cognitive psychology, and neuroscience.
Presenters included Nicholas Barberis, professor of finance at the Yale School of Management; Gregory Berns, professor of economics and neuroeconomics and director of the Center for Neuropolicy at Emory University; David Laibson, professor of economics at Harvard University; Vincent Reinhart, managing director and chief U.S. economist at Morgan Stanley; Phillip Tetlock, professor of psychology and management at the University of Pennsylvania; Edward Thorp, hedge fund manager, author, former professor of mathematics, and noted blackjack gambler; and Elke Weber, professor of international business and psychology at Columbia University.
Juan-Luis Perez and Martin Leibowitz of Morgan Stanley, SFI Trustee Michael Mauboussin of Legg Mason Capital Management, and SFI External Professor John Rundle of UC Davis co-organized the meeting with Chris.