“It’s necessary to have the perception of confidence,” he says. “If you lose that, your firm fails.”

REPEATING HISTORY

Certain courses that were created before the crisis have taken on new meaning in the recession.

“Creating the Modern Financial System,” a course taught by Professor David A. Moss, debuted in the Spring of 2008 just as the sub-prime mortgage crisis was evolving into a larger economic meltdown.

The students, who numbered about 30 in 2008, found the material—a history of finance—pertinent to the current events of developments on Wall Street. Student discussion often drifted towards the news, Moss says.

In the Spring of 2009, Moss added two case studies relating to the current crisis to the course, which he began formulating over four years ago. He will teach those cases again when the course is offered in the Spring of 2010.

Throughout its chronology, the course focuses on bubbles and crashes, Moss says. “People have joked that this is a course on destroying the modern financial system.”

Over the past two years, that focus has attracted more students.

The course—which enrolls a maximum of 90 students—was substantially oversubscribed when offered in 2009.

Moss says financial history gives students a better perspective on how finance works in reality, in addition to explaining how various aspects of the current crisis came about.

Summer M. Nemeth, a 2009 HBS graduate who took Moss’ class last year, agrees.

“[Moss] drew comparisons between the crazy current crisis and past crises. Not everyone has a direct mirror to today, but with every historical case, he pulled out insights that will be relevant going forward.”

CONSUMER FINANCE

As the recession gripped the economy in the winter of 2009, Business School Professor Peter Tufano ’79 was beginning a new joint class on consumer finance with Law School Professor Howell E. Jackson.

According to Tufano, the course, which will be offered in spring 2010, attempts to fill an educational void by introducing business students to consumer banking. Though Tufano envisioned the course before the downturn, the lack of educational resources on the topic became more evident during the banking crisis, he says.