College of Business to offer new course on financial crisis

The College of Business and Economics will offer a new course, starting Oct. 15, on the current financial crisis. The one-credit course is titled “Eco 195: Managing the Financial Crisis” and will be taught by Wight Martindale ’60, a Martindale Fellow.
The short course will review the impact of the financial crisis in both the government and the private sector and is open to any student at Lehigh. Each week, Martindale will lead a discussion on the past week’s events while analyzing the decisions that led to the failure of such financial icons as Bear Stearns.
Interested students should sign up for the class in room 461 in the Rauch Business Center. No prerequisites are necessary, and students will not be asked to fill out add/drop forms. The class runs on Mondays and Wednesdays, from 10:10 to 11:00 a.m.
With so much uncertainty surrounding the bailout package and its implications here and abroad, Martindale hopes to engage students and evaluate the impact of congressional actions, look at alternatives, and better understand the process.
“The two important questions about the current financial crisis are, ‘How did Wall Street and other national and international financial institutions get us into this mess?’ and, ‘What should we do to get out of it?’” says Jim Dearden, chair and professor of economics in the College of Business and Economics.
“Following Lehigh University's tradition of mixing theory and practice, Martindale will explain the financial instruments and institutions needed to truly begin to understand and appreciate the extent of the crisis,” he says.
--Tom Yencho