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Wei Wu

"The lessons we just learned from the very recent credit crisis at the end of 2007 and beginning of 2008 are important, but they have been important for a long time. The recent crisis just elevates it. Corporate managers must understand the risks with any liability, after all, they factor it into their decision making. In the past, people really put their full faith on mathematical models. Most practitioners, including banks and some managers at corporations, ignored the limitations of the models and used them as they wished. They made a lot of mistakes. After the crisis, people started realizing the limitations of the models. People now interpret the models differently. They use more human judgement today."

Message

Finance is both an art and a science. Mechanically interpreting model results is a recipe for disaster. Optimal decision making takes a combination of factors including your vision, your experience, and your interpretation of financial models. This skill set needs many years of training and practice. Taking finance classes at Atkinson is a good start.

Fixed income is the counterpart of equity, which obligates the borrower/issuer to make payments on a fixed schedule. Issuing fixed income securities such as debt is an important way to raise capital, especially for governments and non-profit organizations.

Derivatives are not all created equal. Some are toxic; some are perfectly safe. They are crucial to effective risk management.

Biography

Wei Wu is an assistant professor of finance at the Atkinson Graduate School of Management at Willamette University. His current research revolves around two streams. The first stream is in the domain of credit risk modeling and its implications for security design and financial regulations. The second stream draws upon investment-based asset pricing to study credit friction and linkage between stock and bond markets.

Professor Wu has delivered presentations at major professional conferences and to organizations, including Bank of America. Wu was the recipient of the Fisher-Long-Whitcomb Teaching Excellence Award at Rutgers University in New Jersey in 2006.

Professor Wu received his Ph.D. in 2008 from Rutgers University and earned a B.A. in Economics from the University of Colorado. He is fluent in Chinese.

Personal Interests
Professor Wu enjoys basketball, tennis, and hiking in the Pacific Northwest. He also enjoys working on vehicles mechanically.

Education

• Ph.D., Rutgers University
• M.B.A., Rutgers University
• B.A., University of Colorado

Areas of Instruction and Research Interests

Teaching: Credit Risk and Fixed Income, Derivatives and Risk Management, Macroeconomics and Financial Systems.

Research: Credit Risk, Derivatives, Asset pricing

Selected Publications

Ahn, M., Couch, R. and Wu, W. (2011) “Financing Development Stage Biotechnology Companies: Reverse Mergers vs. Initial Public Offerings,” Journal of Health Care Finance, 38 (1), 32-54.

“Private Investment and Public Equity Returns,” with Robert Couch, Revise and Resubmit.

“Testing Lead-Lag Effects under Game-Theoretic Efficient Market Hypotheses,” with Glenn Shafer, Revise and Resubmit.

“Testing Conflicts of Interest at Bond Rating Agencies” with Xing Zhou, working paper.

“CoCo Bonds and its Implications for Bank Regulations,” with Michael Imerman, working paper.

Selected Presentations

Financial Management Association 2010 Annual Meeting, New York City, October 2010

Midwest Finance Association 2011 Annual Meeting, Chicago, March 2011

Washington Area Finance Association 14th Annual Meeting, George Mason University, May 2007

Financial Management Association 2007 Annual Meeting, Orlando, Florida, October 2007