August 22, 2008 – (ATLANTA) – Georgia State University's J. Mack Robinson College of Business announced today that it will create a new Center for the Economic Analysis of Risk (CEAR), the first research center of its kind in the world. Funding for the project is internally generated through a unique "Areas of Focus" program in which Georgia State University provides internal grants to units based on the merit and potential impact of a project. The new CEAR initiative will be funded at $1.4 million per year.
In addition to Robinson's Risk Management and Insurance Department, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Georgia State's Andrew Young School of Policy Studies and several other departments of Robinson College of Business will be involved in CEAR's development.
According to Robinson College of Business Dean H. Fenwick Huss, "Be it fire or fraud, natural disaster, man-made calamity or liquidity crisis, the ability of individuals, organizations and societies to anticipate and manage risk is becoming more and more critical. With this new center, Robinson College of Business steps to the forefront by bringing together some of the top minds from around the world to study and find solutions for even the most complex risk-related problems."
At full capacity, CEAR will be a virtual organization with an international network of more than 100 economists and other researchers from disciplines including:
- Mathematical finance
- Computational methods
- Dynamic corporate finance
- Economics of contracting and macroeconomics
"Our objective is to create an optimum environment where fundamental research on some of the most difficult risk problems facing society is conducted. In addition, the center will foster a learning environment for our students and faculty characterized by quantitative and qualitative rigor, and we will emphasize our problem-solving capability through effective communication to our targeted constituencies," said Richard D. Phillips, Chair of Robinson College Business' Risk Management and Insurance Department. "There are only a handful of centers like this around the country and none in the field of risk management."
"We certainly view the area of risk measurement and management at the societal, corporate and individual areas as an important area of research," said Larry D. Wall, Financial Economist and Policy Adviser at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. "We think collaboration between the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and Robinson's Department of Risk Management and Insurance would build on the strengths of both organizations to the benefit of both."
CEAR's initial areas of research will focus on four areas of study:
- Quantitative Modeling in Risk Management
- Corporate Risk Management
- Intergenerational Risk Sharing
- Insurance Markets, Regulation and Public Policy
CEAR Research Fellows will conduct basic research in an unstructured environment as well as applied grant-related research; will develop and implement annual or bi-annual research seminars for each program group; will develop CEAR summer school programming; will provide monetary awards to CEAR Ph.D. Fellows; and will develop and lead CEAR-related graduate academic programs.
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