MBA Programs Face Their Role in Financial Crisis

Executives have taken a lot of blame for the financial crisis, whether for focusing on short-term gains in stock price or placing too much faith in ultra-complex financial instruments, writes Bradford Plumer for the New Republic. But what about the business schools that taught them to manage that way in the first place? With Wall Street in ruins, MBA programs are re-examining priorities.

“In a way, finance professors caused this problem—I’m not bragging about this,” says Charles Trzcinka, finance chair at Indiana University’s B-school, who points out that professors taught budding execs about mortgage-backed securities and credit default swaps without a full understanding of how the instruments could fail. (More MBA Programs stories.)