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On Campus
Session Date-Application DeadlineProgram Fee$5,400Faculty ChairProgram Director
Program Fee: The program fee includes tuition, curricular materials and most meals. Housing is not included.
Program Overview
Common biases. Irrational investment behaviors. Decision-trap situations. In today’s complex and rapidly changing financial markets, senior executives responsible for managing client assets need to understand these and other factors that can lead to sub-optimal outcomes for investors.
Investment Decisions and Behavioral Finance is an intensive two-day program from Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education. It will expose you to the central principles and latest findings of the psychology of decision making under conditions of risk and uncertainty.
Led by Faculty Chair Richard Zeckhauser, this on-campus program focuses on practical applications for professionals who manage assets and construct portfolios for investment clients.
Dinner Speaker:
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Seth Klarman, CEO & President, Baupost Group
Senior Professor Faculty Speakers:
- Larry Summers, University Professor, Harvard University
- Richard Zeckhauser, Harvard Kennedy School
- Jason Furman, Harvard Kennedy School and Economics Department
- Iris Bohnet, Harvard Kennedy School
- Robin Greenwood, Harvard Business School
- Samuel Hanson, Harvard Business School
- David Laibson, Harvard Economics Department
- Nicholas Barberis, Yale School of Management
- Michael Mauboussin, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Columbia
PROGRAM CURRICULUM
Developed by Harvard Kennedy School faculty, Investment Decisions and Behavioral Finance explores the science behind investment decision making.
The program opens with a networking dinner, followed by two days of classroom sessions. You will take part in thought-provoking discussions and interactive learning exercises with leading behavioral finance professionals and academics.
Reflecting the most current research and issues in the financial markets, the curriculum focuses on:
- Behavioral insights into financial markets
- Crash beliefs from investor surveys
- Global outlook, debt cycles, and monetary policy
- The challenges and opportunities of the aging investor
- Gender retirement gaps
- Big data, smart beta, and other things investors fear
- Methods to improve decisions
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Investment Decisions and Behavioral Finance will help you understand:
- The applied science of effective decision making
- How our brains are not wired to make the decisions that modern financial markets require—and ways to adjust for these shortcomings
- How and why financial bubbles develop and strategies for recognizing them
- The psychological reasons that lead investors to make severe investment errors
Application Information
This on-campus program from Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education is designed for corporate executives in the financial and investment community who are interested in hearing the perspectives of intellectual thought leaders and leading practitioners.
Professionals who would find value in this program include:
- Investment company presidents
- Chief investment officers
- Investment strategists
- Portfolio and fund managers
- Pension plan executives
- Corporate investors
Immerse yourself with a cohort of fellow leaders on Harvard’s historic campus. View a sample program schedule from a previous session. Note that module titles, speakers, and sequence may change.
WHAT PARTICIPANTS ARE SAYING
"As a board member of one of the largest pension funds in America, I found this to be the most valuable class I have ever taken."
Bruce Perelman, Former Secretary of the Board of Investments
Hear from the Faculty Chair
Faculty Chair Richard Zeckhauser and Harvard Kennedy School Professor Dan Levy discuss the triumphs and failures of making important decisions in groups.
Faculty & Research

Richard Zeckhauser

Nicholas Barberis

Iris Bohnet

Robin Greenwood

Jason Furman

David Laibson

Samuel Hanson

Lawrence H. Summers


Michael J. Mauboussin
