We get many conflicting messages about risk. We are told to avoid risk, other times we need to embrace risk head-on. We hear less about how to take smart, calculated risks. When we do this we can get more out of our lives and minimize the odds the worst will happen. There is a science to taking risk, it comes from the study of financial markets. The lessons from financial economics can help us feel more comfortable taking risks in any aspect of our lives: in business, in our personal lives, how to make sense of politics and economics, or even what to have for dinner tonight.

The message of this talk is how to take the wisdom (and mistakes) from financial economics to take a more methodical approach to the risks we face. Allison draws on her financial expertise and time in the field with unusual risk-takers.

Speaker Bio:

Allison Schrager is an economist, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, contributing editor at City Journal, and co-founder of LifeCycle Finance Partners, LLC, a risk advisory firm. She is the author of An Economist Walks into a Brothel: And Other Unexpected Places to Understand Risk. She is the host of the podcast Risk Talking where she interviews leading economists, business journalists, and historians, exploring their work in an effort to understand what’s happening in the marketplace today.

Allison diversified her career by working in finance, policy, and media. She led retirement product innovation at Dimensional Fund Advisors and consulted to international organizations, including the OECD and IMF.

She has been a regular contributor to the Economist, Reuters, and Bloomberg Businessweek. Her writing has also appeared in Playboy, Wired, National Review, and Foreign Affairs. She has an undergraduate degree from the University of Edinburgh and a PhD in economics from Columbia University. She lives in New York City.