The Honorable Michelle Bowman

 Michelle Bowman

Join us Tuesday, April 18 at 1pm for a speech given by The Honorable Michelle Bowman followed by a conversation moderated by Reena Aggarwal. The conversation will focus on Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), possibilities for a digital dollar, and the U.S. economy.

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Driving the future of global finance.

Based in Washington, D.C., at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, the Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy has a legacy of impact – from its origins following the 2008 financial crisis to its ongoing expertise on timely issues at the intersection of finance and policy.

Through influential thought leadership and rigorous, independent, and timely research, the Georgetown Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy impacts policy and practice for market participants around the world.

Housed at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, the Psaros Center accomplishes this by:

Through these activities, the Psaros Center delivers innovative solutions. enriches the intellectual life of the university, and inspires meaningful change.

Psaros family

Alumnus and Mentor Collaborate to Build the Newly Renamed Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy

More than a decade after providing seed capital to establish a financial markets and policy center at the McDonough School of Business, Michael G. (B’89) and Robin Psaros (Parents’21) are committing $11 million to build the newly renamed Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy into the preeminent destination for unbiased expertise at the intersection of finance and policy.

Psaros Center Announcement

About the Psaros Center

The Psaros Center for Financial Markets & Policy was founded in the immediate aftermath of the 2008 economic crash. The collapse and bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers, followed by the precipitous market crash, uncertainty across major global financial institutions, and subsequent government bailouts, showed a clear need for unbiased dialogue among market professionals, scholars, and policymakers. The Psaros Center’s founding principle was to give a voice to the financial markets and create an ongoing dialogue for the good of industry practices and policy.

More than ten years later, the Psaros Center addresses the urgent financial markets issues of today and informs the future of global finance. A policy and research center within Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, it brings together industry professionals, policymakers and scholars through nonpartisan, solutions-driven platforms.

About the Center

The Psaros Center holds webinars, seminars, and interviews with some of the world’s most influential leaders in markets and policy. From its foundation of rigorous research and policy, the Center addresses timely issues with the leaders at the forefront of shaping our financial systems now and defining the priorities and solutions of the future.

Visiting Fellows

Visiting Fellows at the Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy contribute to the goals of advancing the dialogue on the ways in which finance impacts society by addressing timely issues around public and private markets; digital assets; market structure; and ESG and climate disclosure by conducting unbiased research, convening policymakers and market participants, and cultivating students to become the next generation of globally minded, principled leaders who will use finance to serve the common good.

Become a Visiting Fellow

Previous Speakers

All Previous Speakers

David Rubenstein

Co-Founder and Co-Executive Chairman of The Carlyle Group

Stacey Cunningham

President of the New York Stock Exchange (former)

Mary Callahan Erdoes

Chief Executive Officer of Asset & Wealth Management
J.P. Morgan Chase

Chairman Jay Clayton

Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

Psaros Center News

All Psaros Center News
MarketWatch logo

Media Mentions

GameStop stock is playing by a set of rules you’ll find in a casino more than an investment portfolio

The odds remain stacked against GameStop, even with the unexpected profit the company reported earlier this week… The NBER study, entitled “Attention, Social Interaction, and Investor Attraction to Lottery Stocks,” was conducted by Turan Bali of Georgetown University; David Hirshleifer of the University of Southern California; Lin Peng of Baruch College; and Yi Tang of Fordham University. The researchers found that a stock acquires lottery-like characteristics because of a feedback loop involving its volatility, investor attention, and social interactions via channels such as social media.

March 23, 2023

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Media Mentions, News

Bank panic subsides on Wall Street. Next up: Fed panic

The Federal Reserve is in an awkward spot, cast as both hero and villain in the current banking drama. After a yearlong campaign to tame prices, the central bank now faces a no-win situation: Annual inflation is at 6%, triple what the Fed considers to be healthy. But the Fed’s rate hikes also contributed to this mess by collapsing the value of banks’ government bond holdings. “The decisive and quick actions by the Feds did help to calm not only the banking sector but also the broader markets,” said Reena Aggarwal, a professor of finance at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business.

March 14, 2023

NPR logo

Media Mentions, News

Silicon Valley Bank’s fall shows how tech can push a financial panic into hyperdrive

Say “bank run” and many people conjure black-and-white photos from the 1930s — throngs of angry depositors clamoring for their money. But the sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank shows how in an age of instant communication and social media, a financial panic can go into hyperdrive, facilitated by the ability to make instantaneous bank transfers and withdrawals. “You have transactions that can be done much faster … and get cleared much faster,” says Reena Aggarwal, the director of the Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy at Georgetown University. “So, everything speeds up,” she says. “I think that’s partly what happened here. But at the end of the day, it’s the underlying problems at the bank that caused this.”

March 13, 2023