Financial Markets for Policy Professionals

January 25-28, 2023

Everything you always wanted to know about private equity but were afraid to ask! For 12 years, JRCPPF has offered this popular short course to all SPIA MPPs and MPAs.

We have a limited number of spots available for the course. Register now!

The events of the last decade and current events highlight the need for public policy professionals to understand how financial markets operate. However, given the wide range of institutions in global financial markets, the seemingly endless number of instruments in which they deal and the specialized functions they perform, the world of finance can seem impenetrable to those who are not in the industry.

• What is a hedge fund?
• How does it differ from a private equity firm?
• How do commercial banking and investment banking differ?
• How are financial markets and institutions regulated?
• How should they be regulated?

These are but a few of the questions policymakers must ask in thinking about financial markets. The purpose of this short course is to provide a framework for understanding the operations of financial institutions, the economic purposes they serve, and the markets in which they deal. The course will cover aspects of financial markets that should be part of the vocabularies of all public policy practitioners, including those who work for federal, state, and local governments; international institutions; and non-profits such as microfinance institutions or other social enterprise organizations. For a one-page news summary of the program click here.

• Participants are expected to attend all the sessions in person. The course will run over three full days, 9 am – 5 pm on Jan. 26 & 27, and 10 am – 4 pm on Jan. 28. Breakfast and lunch will be provided on the full days. Lunch will be provided on Saturday.
• There is an optional session on financial accounting will be 5:30-9:00 pm on the evening of January 25, 2023. A pizza dinner will be provided.
• The material on January 26 & 27 will give students a practical working knowledge of how financial markets function as well as how they are regulated. The material will cover the fundamentals of capital markets, including the markets for Treasuries, mortgage financing, corporate debt, currency and commodities, and international financial markets and crises.
• The sessions on January 28 will cover some specific areas including municipal finance, private equity, and international finance.

Our speakers will include:

• Donal Byard, Professor of Accounting, Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College
• Lance Eckel & Matt Porio, Finance IQ
• JC de Swaan, Partner, Cornwall Capital and Visiting Lecturer in Economics, Princeton University
• RJ Gallo *96, Head, Municipal Bond Investment Group, Federated Investors Inc.
• David Rubenstein, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Chairman, The Carlyle Group
• Roz Wiggins, Director of the Yale Program on Financial Stability, Yale School of Management
• Carolyn Wilkins, Advisory Committee, Bank of England

More speakers to be confirmed….

Preliminary Course Agenda, January 25-28, 2023