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Camelia M. Kuhnen
Camelia M. Kuhnen

FINANCE
Assistant Professor of Finance
Zell Center Faculty Fellow

Print Overview
Professor Kuhnen joined the faculty at the Kellogg School of Management in August 2006, after completing her Ph.D. in Finance at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Her research interests include corporate finance, behavioral finance and neuroeconomics. Prof. Kuhnen studies incentives in the workplace for various types of agents: mutual fund managers, chief executive officers, as well as lower level employees, using both field data and experimental evidence. She also studies the micro-foundations of financial decision making by investigating the brain mechanisms responsible for learning and risk taking in financial markets.

Areas of Expertise
Behavioral Economics
Behavioral Finance
Corporate
  • Recent Media Coverage

    Asian News International: Financial risk-taking lies in the genes - 10/5/2009

    Stocks (Switzerland): Neurofinanz-Forscherin Camelia Kuhnen: Trader erhalten beim Handeln einen Kick, ganz ähnlich wei Drogenabhängige - 8/28/2009

    Los Angeles Times: It's time for boards to limit CEOs' compensation - 5/23/2009

    The Mint (Dow Jones publication in India): Genetics, risk and behaviour - 4/6/2009

    See all Kellogg in the Media
Print Vita
Education
PhD, 2006, Finance, Stanford University
BS, 2001, Brain and Cognitive Studies; Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Academic Positions
Affiliated Faculty, Northwestern University, 2006-present
Faculty Fellow, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2006-present
Assistant Professor of Finance, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2006-present

 
Print Research
Research Interests
Corporate finance, behavioral finance, industrial organization, neuroeconomics and experimental finance

Articles
Samanez-Larkin, Greg, Camelia M. Kuhnen, Daniel J. Yoo and Brian Knutson. Forthcoming. Variability in Nucleus Accumbens Activity Mediates Age-Related Suboptimal Financial Risk. Journal of Neuroscience.
AbstractRead
Kuhnen, Camelia M. and Brian Knutson. Forthcoming. The Impact of Affect on Beliefs, Preferences and Financial Decisions. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis.
AbstractRead
Kuhnen, Camelia M.. 2009. Business Networks, Corporate Governance and Contracting in the Mutual Fund Industry. Journal of Finance. 64(5): 2185-2220.
AbstractRead
Kuhnen, Camelia M. and Joan Chiao. 2009. Genetic Determinants of Financial Risk Taking. PLoS ONE. 4(2)
AbstractRead
Knutson, Brian, Camelia M. Kuhnen, G. Elliott Wimmer and Piotr Winkielman. 2008. Nucleus Accumbens Activation Mediates the Influence of Reward Cues on Financial Risk Taking. NeuroReport. 19(5): 509-513.
AbstractRead
Kuhnen, Camelia M. and Brian Knutson. 2005. Neural Basis of Financial Risk Taking. Neuron. 47(5): 763-770.
AbstractRead
Working Papers
Knutson, Brian, Greg Samanez-Larkin, Daniel J. Yoo and Camelia M. Kuhnen. 2009. Affective systems independently contribute to accumulation of assets and debts.
Eisfeldt, Andrea and Camelia M. Kuhnen. 2009. CEO Turnover in a Competitive Assignment Framework.
AbstractRead
Kuhnen, Camelia M.. 2009. Firms and Human Capital Investment: Screening and Competing for Talent.
Kuhnen, Camelia M., and Agnieszka Tymula. 2009. Rank Expectations, Feedback and Social Hierarchies.
AbstractRead
Kuhnen, Camelia M. and Alexandra Niessen. 2009. Is Executive Compensation Shaped by Public Attitudes?.
AbstractRead
Wanat, Matthew J., Camelia M. Kuhnen and Paul, E.M. Phillips. 2009. Escalating costs regulate dopamine release to rewards but not their predictors.
Kuhnen, Camelia M. and Jeffrey Zwiebel. 2008. Executive Pay, Hidden Compensation and Managerial Entrenchment.
AbstractRead
Kuhnen, Camelia M.. 2004. Dynamic Contracting in the Mutual Fund Industry.
AbstractRead

 
Print Teaching
Teaching Interests
Introductory finance
Full-Time / Part-Time MBA
Finance I (FINC-430-0)

This course counts toward the following majors: Analytical Finance, Finance

This course studies the effects of time and uncertainty on decision making. Topics include discounted cash flow valuation, stock and bond valuation, the term structure of interest rates, bond duration, capital budgeting under certainty and uncertainty, portfolio theory, asset pricing models and efficient markets.

Prerequisites: Knowledge of (a) probability and statistics through linear regression and (b) financial accounting. Requirement (a) may be satisfied with prior or concurrent registration in DECS-434, sufficient previous course work in statistics or attending Finance I statistics tutorials (available fall quarter only). Requirement (b) may be satisfied with prior or concurrent registration in ACCT 430 or sufficient previous course work in financial accounting. MECN-430 is recommended.

To qualify for a Finance I (FINC-430) waiver, you must have passed a comparable course with a grade of A. The type and level of material covered in the course are represented by chapters 1-13 and 23 of the text by Brealey and Myers, Principles of Corporate Finance. You need not request a Finance I waiver to enroll in FINC-440 (Turbo). To help you decide whether you should waive Finance I, take the self-assessment test online at www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/finance/curriculum/finance1waiver.htm.