Why did the “stagflation” of the 1970s—the improbable combination of high unemployment and runaway inflation—prove so painful and protracted? What explains the US stock market’s remarkable 40-year run of 12% average annual returns since then? Why is Japan still mired in a decades-long recession—and the Chinese economy in a tailspin? And what accounts for the resilience of US stock and labor markets in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the face of the Fed’s record interest rate hikes?

In The Making of Modern Corporate Finance: A History of the Ideas and How They Help Build the Wealth of Nations, Donald H. Chew, Jr. argues that answers to these questions lie in the principles and methods of “modern corporate finance.” Ideas formulated and tested by finance scholars—notably, an efficient stock market in which prices reflect the long-run values of public companies and a “market for corporate control” that exerts continuous pressure on management—informed and spurred the investor-driven capitalism that has created the world’s most productive and valuable companies.

Drawing on his career-long relationships with leading academics and practitioners, Chew profiles key figures in the development of modern corporate finance while emphasizing their counterintuitive lessons for shareholders, companies and countries. Corporate efficiency and value creation, he contends, are the fundamental source of the social wealth essential to addressing challenges such as poverty and climate change. Lively and provocative, this book makes corporate finance approachable—and even admirable—for readers interested in how the success and failure of companies affect their lives.

About the Speakers
Donald H. Chew, Jr. has been the editor of the Journal of Applied Corporate Finance since its start in 1981 and was also a founding partner of the consulting firm Stern Stewart & Co. He holds a PhD in English and American literature as well as an MBA in finance, both from the University of Rochester.

Martin Fridson (interlocutor) is, according to The New York Times, “one of Wall Street’s most thoughtful and perceptive analysts.” He is the chief investment officer of Lehmann, Livian, Fridson Advisors LLC, an investment firm based in New York, and publisher of Income Securities Investor newsletter. He has been a member of the Museum’s Board of Trustees since 2022.

This program is free, but advance registration is required. Registered guests will receive the link prior to the program. The first 100 guests attending the virtual event will receive a FREE electronic copy of the book discussed, courtesy of the Fordham Gabelli Center for Global Security Analysis.

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