Financial journalist and author Diana B. Henriques will be taking the stage at the LaSells Stewart Center on March 14 at 7 p.m. as part of the Provost’s Lecture Series.
Henriques, whose career spans decades of investigative financial journalism, is set to deliver a talk on the importance of understanding financial history, titled “Why Financial History Matters: From Coolidge to Cryptocurrency.”
Henriques has emerged as a leading authority in the field of financial journalism, garnering multiple Pulitzer Prize nominations. Her extensive investigation into the notorious Bernie Madoff scandal, detailed in her New York Times bestseller “The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust,” has been turned into a documentary by Netflix. .
Her upcoming lecture at OSU will explore the striking similarities between the Jazz Age and the contemporary crypto landscape, underlining the urgent need for regulatory oversight in the digital asset domain.
“Understanding why we regulated the stock market in the first place would have helped us figure out that we needed to regulate the cryptocurrency market,” Henriques said.
She also spoke about how understanding financial trends can help individuals and institutions navigate today’s rapidly evolving financial landscape.
“The importance of financial history is in part, to understand which of these long standing themes you’re seeing unfold today. One of the points I will be making in my talk is the degree to which the Unregular slated stock markets of the 1920s … under President Coolidge and later President Hoover resemble today’s modern cryptocurrency market.” Henriques said..
Following her address, the audience will have the opportunity to engage with Henriques and Tim Carroll, the dean of OSU’s College of Business, during a question-and-answer session.
The Provost’s Lecture Series aims to bring distinguished thinkers, writers, scientists, artists, and leaders to Oregon State University, and is intended to serve as an intellectual hub for engaging, challenging, and inspiring discourse.
The event with Henriques marks the inaugural installment of the 2023-24 series which will also welcome author Michael Pollan on April 2, 2024.
Shruthi Nandigam and Vinay Purma, graduate students in Financial Analytics, said they were looking forward to an opportunity to learn more about financial history and its modern-day implications.
“I’ve been intrigued by Diana’s work, especially after watching that Netflix series on Bernie Madoff. The whole saga was like something out of a movie, you know? I’m really curious to hear more about her insights into the historical context of the American financial landscape. It feels like understanding where we’ve been might give us some clues about where we’re headed, financially speaking.” Nandigam said
For Purma, the lecture is an opportunity to learn about how traditional and cryptocurrency markets interact.
“I’ve been reading up on cryptocurrency and how it’s changing the game. But I’m still trying to wrap my head around how it all fits into the traditional finance world,” Purma said. “I’m hoping Diana might shed some light on that and give us a glimpse of what the future might hold, especially given her experience in dealing with market volatility and all.”
