Financial research websites/blogs (phd question)

CFA General
#1

Hey guys, I’ve recently become interested in pursuing a Phd in Finance or a related field (not econ though) sometime in the future. I read lots of economics blogs that discuss latest research and there are many good ones out there, but have not found any good blogs or websites that discuss developments/research/papers in the field of finance. I’m thinking scholarly research, not commentary on the markets. Does anyone know of any good ones? Or, alternatively, what’s the best way to begin to explore areas of current research in order to identify interesting topics or areas to explore. So far I’ve basically been browsing faculty pages on random business school websites and looking for faculty publications, but this doesn’t work very well - it’s tough to look at a paper on a fairly specific financial topic and determine whether it would be interesting to study, without any context or a background in that specific area. Thanks, Luke

#2

Academics haven’t taken entirely to blogs, since the way up the academic ladder is to get published in journals that like to have exclusive control over copyrights. That doesn’t mean that there are no academic blogs, but they aren’t as common as you might think. Journal of Finance is a place to look for current research. Also Journal of Portfolio Management. You might look at professors of finance in Ph.D. programs and see if you can get ahold of syllabi for advanced graduate courses. That will probably have a sample of some of the latest stuff. SSRN (social science research network) is where a lot of people on the border between academe and practitioners (practitioners with an academic bent, and academics who don’t care to go through the peer review process for an idea). There are some ideas to get you started.

#3

Thanks bchadwick, anyone else?

#4

search the forums on Phd. There is lots of discussion on this topic. PhDs are plenty in supply now, there are not many opportunities for the amount of work that is involved. If you dont mind settling for a 2nd/3rd tier academic job, it still makes sense. Tier 1 is crowded and tough.