Campbell Harvey, Professor of Finance, Fuqua School of Business, Duke University

In today’s world of markets, few relationships are better studied than the yield spread of risk free bonds with different maturities. The Funds rate vs. the 2 year, the 2 year vs. the 10 year , the 10 year vs. the 30 year, all constitute spreads that market participants find highly instructive in gauging macro variables like growth and inflation. Many academics have contributed to shining a light on the information content of the yield curve, and as a Ph.D. student at the University of Chicago in 1986, Campbell Harvey made one of the earliest and most important contributions. Over the course of his impressive career, Campbell’s research interests have been vast and his curiosity has led him to all corners of finance including derivatives, emerging markets, the time variation of risk premium, politic risk and how to measure luck versus skill.

Om Podcasten

The Alpha Exchange is a podcast series launched by Dean Curnutt to explore topics in financial markets, risk management and capital allocation in the alternatives industry. Our in depth discussions with highly established industry professionals seek to uncover the nuanced and complex interactions between economic, monetary, financial, regulatory and geopolitical sources of risk. We aim to learn from the perspective our guests can bring with respect to the history of financial and business cycles, promoting a better understanding among listeners as to how prior periods provide important context to present day dynamics. The “price of risk” is an important topic. Here we engage experts in their assessment of risk premium levels in the context of uncertainty. Is the level of compensation attractive? Because Central Banks have played so important a role in markets post crisis, our discussions sometimes aim to better understand the evolution of monetary policy and the degree to which the real and financial economy will be impacted. An especially important area of focus is on derivative products and how they interact with risk taking and carry dynamics. Our conversations seek to enlighten listeners, for example, as to the factors that promoted the February melt-down of the VIX complex. We do NOT ask our guests for their political opinions. We seek a better understanding of the market impact of regulatory change, election outcomes and events of geopolitical consequence. Our discussions cover markets from a macro perspective with an assessment of risk and opportunity across asset classes. Within equity markets, we may explore the relative attractiveness of sectors but will NOT discuss single stocks.