Dr. Campbell Harvey, Duke University: DeFi, Gold, Crypto & Undefeated Record of Yield Curve Indicator

Our guest today is Dr. Campbell R. Harvey, who for the past 35 years has served as Professor of Finance at Duke University. Professor Harvey has also served as Partner/Senior Advisor to Research Affiliates, LLC and Advisor to Man Group. He served as Editor of the Journal of Finance from 2006 to 2012 and as the 2016 President of the American Finance Association.

He holds a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Chicago, MBA from York University and a BA from University of Toronto.

Dr. Harvey has published over 125 scholarly articles on a variety of topics and has received many awards, including the following:

• Most recently, he won the 2020 Quant of the Year Award from the Journal of Portfolio Management.
• 8 Graham & Dodd Awards/Scrolls for excellence in financial writing from the CFA Institute.
• 2016 & 2015 Bernstein Fabozzi/Jacobs Levy Award for Best Article from Journal of Portfolio Management for his research on differentiating luck vs. skill.

In this episode, we start by discussing how he got into finance and what he is most famous for, his research on the yield curve indicator (including his time at the University of Chicago under Nobel laureate Professor Eugene Fama), which has continued to be powerful in predicting recessions, including the current one. Further, we cover the risk of low interest rates, the expanding balance sheet of the U.S. Government, PPP loans, using gold as a risk against unexpected inflation, and more. Last, we discuss topics from one of the most popular finance courses in the country, Innovation & Cryptoventures, a class he has taught for the past five years, a course that focuses on the mechanics and applications of blockchain technology.

Please enjoy the episode. 

Show host: Colby Donovan & Steve Curley, both board members with CFA Society Orlando.

Follow the CFA Society of Orlando on Twitter at @CFAOrlandoFL