Phillip Braun
Clinical Professor of Finance
Professor Phillip A. Braun is a Clinical Professor of Finance. Professor Braun specializes in the study of interactions between the macroeconomy and financial markets. He is the author of a number of articles, most recently a series of papers and a book studying Islamic economics, as well as an online columnist for Forbes and Seeking Alpha. His columns cover a range of topics, with articles on inflation and investing, the impact of the Ukraine war on global economies, and a comparison of the 1970s inflationary period to today's.
Prof. Braun joined the Kellogg School of Management after spending four years across town at the University of Chicago and ten years working and teaching in Asia. When in Asia Professor Braun was a Senior Member of the Policy Advisory Group to the Prime Minister of Thailand and Managing Director of Corporate Finance for Southeast Asia for CLSA. Prior to those assignments Professor Braun was a Principal at A.T. Kearney, an Associate Professor at Kellogg, and an economist with Ronald Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers.
Professor Braun has received numerous teaching awards while at Kellogg, including the Kellogg Professor of the Year, mutliple Faulty Impact Awards, and the Chair Core Teaching Award. Internationally he has taught at Sasin School of Management at Chulalonkorn Univeristy, the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Business School.
Prof Braun received his Ph.D. in Finance and Economics from the University of Chicago, an MA in Economics with Honors from Washington University in St. Louis, and a BA in Economics with Honors from Oberlin College.
- The statistical relationship between the macroeconomy and financial markets. Such topics include examining the relationship between corporate investment and asset returns
- modelling the time series variation in the returns and risks of asset returns
- as well as macroeconomic forecasting of business cycles.
- Finance IFinance IICapital MarketsAsset Management Practicum
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PhD, 1993, Business, Finance and Economics, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago
MA, 1986, Economics, Washington University in St. Louis, with Honors
BA, 1981, Economics, Oberlin College, with Honors -
Clinical Professor of Finance, Finance, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern Univeristy, 2008-present
Visiting Professor of Finance and Lecturer in Economics, Finance and Economics, Booth School of Business and Economics, The University of Chicago, 2007-2011
Visiting Professor, Finance, Sasin Graduate School of Business, 1993-2007
Assistant Professor, Finance, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 1991-1997 -
Executive and Authorized Director, The Brooker Group Plc, 2003-2007
Executive Member, Royal Thai Government, Office of Prime Minister, 2000-2005
Managing Director, CLSA Emerging Markets, Ltd., 2000-2003
Principal, A. T. Kearney Inc., 1997-2000
Junior Economist, Executive Office of the President (Ronald Reagan), 1986-1987 -
Kellogg Faculty Impact Award
Faculty Impact Award for MBA Teaching, Winter 2015
Chair Core Teaching Award
Managerial Finance II (FINCX-441-0)
Managerial Finance II analyzes corporate financial decisions. Topics include market efficiency, capital structure, dividend and stock repurchase policy, and firms’ use of options and convertible securities.
Capital Markets (FINCM-450-0)
Field Study (FINC-498-0)
Field Studies include those opportunities outside of the regular curriculum in which a student is working with an outside company or non-profit organization to address a real-world business challenge for course credit under the oversight of a faculty member.
Asset Management Practicum II (FINC-457-0)
Students enrolled in the Asset Management Practicum's (AMP) sequence of courses participate in managing a portion of the Kellogg School's endowment. Across six different portfolios, the Practicum manages around $30.5 million in total. In the practicum students will rotate across roles of industry analysts and portfolio managers. The AMP courses provide weekly exposure to leading asset management practitioners. Students must take two of the three AMP courses: FINC-456, FINC-457 and FINC-458. AMP requires students to have taken either FINC 431 Finance II or FINC 440 Accelerated Corporate Finance before enrolling in the Practicum. Practicum students have the following additional requirements. Prior to, or during their first quarter of the Practicum, students must have taken or be simultaneously enrolled in one of the following classes: FINC 442 (Financial Decisions); FINC 444 (Value Investing); FINC 448 (M&As, LBOs and Corporate Restructuring); FINC 477 (Global Entrepreneurial Finance), ACCT 451 (Financial Reporting and Analysis), ACCT 452 (Issues in Financial Reporting), or ACCT 922 (Financial Statements Analysis). Before their graduation, AMP students must take either FINC-450 (Capital Markets) or FINC-465 (Derivative Markets I). Some of these co-requisites can be waived based on a student's background.
Capital Markets (FINC-450-0)
This course develops the key concepts necessary to understand financial markets using, where possible, the perspective of personal investing. Some of the personal investing topics covered include: Retirement planning, the cost of investing in mutual funds, how to select mutual funds, how to measure a portfolio's performance, factor investing, and arbitrage trading.
This class provides students with a structure for thinking about financial markets and the pricing of financial securities. The financial securities we study and price include stocks, bonds, futures, and options.
The class teaches how to address investment problems in a systematic manner using case studies. They are used to examine issues in the selection and implementation of investment strategies. In the process, the class examines current academic work about financial markets and their applications to investing.
Finance II (FINC-431-0)
Finance II: Corporate Finance covers the financial knowledge you need to run a firm, whether the firm is a multi-billion international conglomerate or a three-person start up. You will learn how to answer the three fundamental question of corporate finance: (1) Capital structure or the funding decision: which source(s) of capital should you use to fund the firm's project? (2) Capital budgeting or the investment decision: which projects should you invest in? (3) Dividend decision: how should you deploy the capital that the project returns?
We will cover the three fundamental methods for valuing projects and firms: discounted cash flow (or net present value), real options, and multiples analysis. The class begins with a theoretical framework. The world of finance is very complex. Without a logical structure that you can use to frame and answer questions, you will rapidly become lost and will be unable to defend your position. The theoretical framework is valuable, however, only if you can use it to examine real world decisions. Thus the majority of class time will be devoted to applying the logical framework.
This course is important for anyone who plans to run a firm or a division, who hopes to be involved in the investment or funding decisions of the firm, who plans to work for a service provider who will assist the firm in analyzing these decisions (e.g., banking and consulting), or who plans to invest in firms or advise clients who will invest in firms. Even if you initially specialize in a different functional area, you want to understand how the finance function works. The most brilliant idea isn't useful if you cannot get it funded.
Recommended Prerequisites: ACCT-430 and MECN-430
