In place of a previously cancelled lecture, please watch the following videos at home:

"Making Sense" videos on the role of sub-prime mortgages in the mortgage crisis:

1. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/video/flv/generic.html?s=news01s280bq793

2. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/video/flv/generic.html?s=news01s32b0q793

"Credit and Credibility" video on the role of credit rating agencies in the mortgage crisis:

3. http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/446/video.html

(Alternative audio stream: http://www-tc.pbs.org/now/rss/media/NOW-446.mp3)

The total time of all three videos combined is roughly 50 minutes.

Assignment:

Please complete the following questions (1-2 pages typed):

1. List and describe three concepts that we covered in class that were discussed in detail in the videos.

2. In your opinion, do you think the mortgage crisis was a crisis of knowledge, in the sense that financial markets and institutions "over-securitized" mortgages and thus made them too complex to understand, a crisis of morals and ethics, or a combination of both. Explain (I am interested to hear your thoughts).

Also, what would you do if in the course of your career you were placed in a situation that required you to put profits (to you individually or your firm) before doing the "right thing" (i.e., for society at large)? In the case of the analysts at the credit rating agencies, why might the "right thing" be hard to identify.+