David F Babbel

Investments and Securities Markets

Financial Management

International Financial Management

Advanced Asset/Liability Management

Financial Strategies and Analysis:  Insurance  (advanced fixed-income course)

Advanced Corporate Finance

Structured Notes and Asset-Backed Securities

Risk and Crisis Management

Risk Management

Principles of Risk and Insurance

Doctoral Seminar in Life Insurance—various sessions

Past Courses

• FNCE399 - INDEPENDENT STUDY

  Integrates the work of the various courses and familiarizes the student with the tools and techniques of research.

• FNCE720 - INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT

  This course studies the concepts and evidence relevant to the management of investment portfolios. Topics include diversification, asset allocation, portfolio optimization, factor models, the relation between risk and return, trading, passive (e.g., index-fund) and active (e.g., hedge-fund, long-short) strategies, mutual funds, perfermance evaluation, long-horizon investing and simulation. The course deals very little with individual security valuation and discretionary investing (i.e., "equity research" or "stock picking").

• FNCE726 - ADVANCED CORP FINANCE

  The objective of this course is to study the major decision-making areas of managerial finance and some selected topics in financial theory. The course reviews the theory and empirical evidence related to the investment and financing policies of the firm and attempts to develop decision-making ability in these areas. This course serves as an extension of FNCE 611. Some areas of financial management not covered in FNCE 611 are covered in FNCE 726. These may include leasing, mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganizations, financial planning, and working capital management, and some other selected topics. Other areas that are covered in FNCE 611 are covered more in depth and more rigorously in FNCE 726. These include investment decision making under uncertainty, cost of capital, capital structure, pricing of selected financial instruments and corporate liabilities, and dividend policy.

• FNCE899 - INDEPENDENT STUDY

  Independent Study Projects require extensive independent work and a considerable amount of writing. ISP in Finance are intended to give students the opportunity to study a particular topic in Finance in greater depth than is covered in the curriculum. The application for ISP's should outline a plan of study that requires at least as much work as a typical course in the Finance Department that meets twice a week. At a minimum, we need a description of the methodology you intend to employ, a bibliography and description of the data that you will use as well as a list of interim deliverables and dates to ensure that you complete the project within the semester. Applications for FNCE 899 ISP's will not be accepted after the THIRD WEEK OF THE SEMESTER. You must submit your Finance ISP request using the Finance Department's ISP form located at https://fnce.wharton.upenn.edu under the Course ISP section

• Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World, 1986-2012
• Critical Review of U.S. Actuarial Profession Advisory Panel, 2005-2006
• William G. Whitney Award for Distinguished Teaching, 2003
• Valuation Tools Task Force, American Academy of Actuaries, 1997-2002
• Best Published Paper in North American Actuarial Journal, 2002
• Graham and Dodd Award of Excellence, Association for Investment Management and Research, 1997
• Best Feature Article, American Risk and Insurance Association, 1989
• Beta Gamma Sigma (National Scholastic Honor Society of Business and Administration), 1978
• Fulbright-Hays Fellowship, 1977
• Fulbright Fellow, U.S. Office of Education, 1976-1977
• Omicron Delta Epsilon (International Honor Society in Economics), 1973

• In planning for retirement, what life expectancy should the average person use to make sure they have saved enough?, WalletHub - 08/15/2016