Taught by

This program is an historical tour of the forces that molded and shaped the financial centers of three U.S. cities that are now mutual fund, commodity, and capital raising hubs—New York, Boston, and Chicago. This program is designed for students with a strong interest in finance, business, and history.

Students will have the option to travel to one of the U.S. financial-center cities for a week of research. The goal of these trips is to explore the financial expertise for which each of these cities is known, while also looking at how the wealth created by financial businesses has shaped these cities. Visits are expected to include meetings with various businesspeople and visits to local museums and other cultural sites. For those students unable to travel to the financial heartland cities, an alternative is to conduct a similar type of analysis on three cities in Washington state, looking at the role finance played in their growth and evolution.

The first part of the quarter will cover the history of the three cities and explore how they came to be financial centers. We will then move on to a discussion of the evolution of mutual funds, commodities, and the capital-raising process. Students will work in groups to research the history or a particular business in one of the financial center cities and present their findings at the end of the quarter, linking this work with their visits to a financial heartland city. There will be a large emphasis on writing, including brief and very focused assignments, as well as seminar papers.

Quarters

Spring Open

Location and Schedule

Campus Location

Olympia

Time Offered

Day