Knowledge at Wharton

In 2005 three major hurricanes -- Katrina Rita and Wilma -- struck the U.S. Gulf Coast area causing not just death and destruction but also leading to insurance payments and federal disaster relief of more than $180 billion. Today say the authors of a new book titled At War with the Weather: Managing Large-Scale Risks in a New Era of Catastrophes the U.S. is even more vulnerable to catastrophic losses. Written by Howard Kunreuther and Erwann Michel-Kerjan with colleagues Neil Doherty Martin Grace Robert Klein and Mark Pauly At War with the Weather analyzes current thinking about catastrophes and proposes new solutions for reducing loss and providing financial protection against future disasters. Kunreuther co-director of Wharton’s Risk Management and Decision Processes Center and Michel-Kerjan the Center’s managing director recently talked to Knowledge at Wharton about their book.

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The federal government has poured hundreds of billions of dollars into the banking system and most experts seem to agree that the financial crisis is closer to its end than its beginning. But as attention shifts from fire fighting to rebuilding many are worrying about the ”moral hazard” that may remain with an apparent government safety net encouraging a new round of foolish risk taking.

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Now that it’s clear the recession will not turn into a depression stocks are poised for a recovery says Wharton finance professor Jeremy J. Siegel. In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton he said last week’s market decline in response to rising commodity prices -- especially for energy -- and fear of the ever-growing federal deficit was no more than a short-term setback.

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Risk managers armed with the most sophisticated quantitative tools available did not foresee the biggest development in a generation -- the systematic breakdown and global contagion of financial markets. In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton John Drzik president and CEO of the Oliver Wyman Group Richard J. Herring a finance professor at Wharton and Francis X. Diebold a Wharton professor of economics finance and statistics discussed how to build a more informed risk management model. All three took part in the recent Wharton Financial Institutions Center and Oliver Wyman Institute 12th Annual Financial Risk Roundtable 2009.

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Do you want to communicate a corporate message effectively? Turn it into a story says Mandalay Entertainment Group chairman Peter Guber. He argues that stories are more memorable and engaging than slide presentations memos or sales pitches.

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Raghda Shaheen who works for the Dubai International Finance Centre recently completed a four-week business and legal fellowship program at Wharton and the University of Pennsylvania law school. The program funded by the U.S. Department of State Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) and supported by America-Mideast Educational and Training Services (AMIDEAST) teaches management business and legal skills to women from the Middle East and North Africa. This year 22 women from 11 countries attended the program. Shaheen will spend the next three months working at the Chicago Chamber of Commerce before returning to the UAE. She spoke with Knowledge at Wharton about her experiences in Gaza City Canada the U.S. and the Middle East

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In a world where jobs can be sent overseas tasks can be automated and the feverish pace of technology can render even last year’s innovation obsolete students will have to learn how to think differently than their parents in order to survive and prosper says Daniel H. Pink author of three bestselling books about the changing work environment. He spoke at the recent Wharton Evolution of Learning Symposium.

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Venture capitalist consultant and former Apple software ”evangelist” Guy Kawasaki talked about ”the art of innovation” during a recent visit to the University of Pennsylvania. He offered 10 rules for entrepreneurs and innovators. Among them: Make meaning not money.

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Large financial institutions have failed with much higher frequency than is generally perceived says Andrew Kuritzkes a partner at Oliver Wyman and head of the management consulting firm’s public policy practice in North America. In this interview with Knowledge at Wharton Kuritzkes suggests some new guidelines that would greatly improve the financial system’s ability to absorb the inevitable if individually unpredictable shocks of big failures.

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Stocks have rebounded on Wall Street during the past two months. The pace of job losses seems to be slowing down. Even quarterly reports from banks suggest that the banking sector is slowly struggling back to its feet. Do these signs portend the first indicators of an economic recovery? Not yet according to experts at Wharton and elsewhere who insist that despite some of the hopeful data the recovery will be weaker and take longer to gain momentum than past slowdowns.

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