Media Mentions

Economic Times

“The relevance of Bernanke’s work to today is that it helps him tread the fine line of allowing individual investors — and firms, if necessary — to fail while avoiding credit market gridlock,” said Joe Mason, professor of finance at Drexel University in Philadelphia. “The message from the recent interventions is that there is no gridlock.” The message of the markets is increasingly a challenge to that optimism.

The Olympian

Joseph Mason, associate professor of finance at Drexel University, has done extensive research into the financial underpinnings of the subprime mortgage industry. As he sees it, the potential for disaster in the subprime lending arena should have been obvious before, during and after the Household International affair. "Household was among a number of aggressive players," Mason said. "It was not unique in its business model. By not cracking down after seeing this kind of behavior, regulators allowed it to grow and become standard industry practice."

Washington Post

 But there's another view. Economist Joseph Mason of Drexel University argues that the basic financial threat today is "over-borrowing" by investors to buy risky securities. That implies more losses as investors scramble for safety by dumping weak bonds and loans. Given today's global money bazaar – losses in one market may spill over into others – the danger would be a worsening "credit crunch" that corrodes confidence and dooms the world boom.

National Public Radio

Rating agencies are paid by the Wall Street firms that bundle mortgages into securities for sale. The rating agencies coached Wall Street on just how many risky mortgages they could pack in, said finance professor Joseph Mason of Drexel University.

American Enterprise Institute

Recent downgrades on residential mortgage-backed securities and collateralised debt obligations, and subsequent hedge fund failures and market turmoil, have led many to blame ratings agencies for the mortgage mess. Both the European Commission and Barney Frank, chairman of the House financial services committee in the US, promise hearings into the culpability of ratings agencies.

Buffalo News

Under SEC rules, money market managers must invest in securities with “minimal credit risks.” Joseph Mason, a finance professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia and a former economist at the U.S. Treasury Department, says subprime debt in money market funds is far from safe. “This creates tremendous risk for today’s money market investors,” says Mason, who wrote an 84-page report on CDOs this year. “Right now, I’m not comfortable investing anything in CDOs.”

StarNewsOnline.com (Wilmington, NC)

In the United States, much of the focus is on rating agencies, which are paid by banks for rating products, and which sometimes attached investment-grade ratings to securities that turned out to be not up to that standard. Joseph Mason, a finance professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia, and Josh Rosner, the managing director of the research firm Graham Fisher, have pushed for more oversight of rating agencies.

Sydney Morning Herald

Credit-rating companies may be successfully sued by investors who lost money on subprime-mortgage securities and similar bonds, according to a study published in May by Mr Rosner and Joseph Mason, an associate finance professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

Business Standard

Credit-rating companies may be successfully sued by investors who have lost money on subprime-mortgage securities and other similar bonds, according to a May study by Rosner and Joseph Mason, an associate finance professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia.  

Lanka Business Online

Credit-rating companies may be successfully sued by investors who have lost money on subprime-mortgage securities and other similar bonds, a study by Rosner and Joseph Mason, an associate finance professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia had said.

Philadelphia Business Journal

The new regulations entered on the heels of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and experts consider them the most significant change in executive compensation disclosure since the early 1990s. "I think people have become more sensitive to all these issues since the Enron and WorldCom scandals," said Eliezer Fich, an assistant professor of finance at the LeBow College of Business at Drexel University. "On TV, you saw lavish parties thrown by these CEOs who flew their entire families and a lot of other people, and they had these great parties with ice sculptures, etc., etc. Shareholders were footing the bill."

Ohio.com

The delinquency rate for subprime loans rose to 13.8 percent in the first quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. It was 11.5 percent a year earlier. When the collateral in residential mortgage bonds is impaired, ``nothing will undo the losses,'' says Joseph R. Mason, associate professor of finance at Drexel University in Philadelphia. ``It's a static pool of investments, a brain-dead trust.''

The Economic Times

A growing chorus of critics say raters were irresponsible in giving their stamp of approval to bonds that should have been rated much lower. “This is like selling liquor to a minor without carding them, or selling a hand gun and saying they’re not being used to kill people,” said Joseph Mason, an associate professor of finance at Drexel University in Philadelphia. “They are selling these ratings, and the label says don’t use it for investment purposes. That’s clearly not the case.”

Associated Press

Joseph Mason, a finance professor at Drexel University, says it could be an uphill battle for investors to prove that financial institutions were negligent or committed fraud.

Businessweek.com

The authors– Pravin Nath, a professor of marketing at the LeBow College of Business, and Vijay Mahajan, a professor in the department of marketing at the University of Texas at Austin – admit the study is limited, reports AA, because it focuses on financial-performance metrics, such as sales growth and profitability, and not brand equity, and both were quick to offer caveats to the conclusion.

Reuters

But while the rating services argue that they are merely offering opinion, they are involved in a lot more, said Joseph Mason, an associate professor of finance at Drexel University in Philadelphia. He said they work directly with underwriters to determine the size of each tranche, or group of debt, and are active in the entire structuring of CDOs to achieve a rating target. "The rating companies view is we offer an editorial opinion," Mr. Mason said. "That's clearly not the case. Rating companies are involved in financial engineering."

Advertising Age

A study reports that CMOs have no impact on sales. Pravin Nath, a professor of marketing at the LeBow College of Business, admits the study is limited because it focuses on financial-performance metrics, such as sales growth and profitability, and not brand equity, and both were quick to offer caveats to the conclusion.

6ABC

Stanley Kligman, instructor of marketing at Drexel University's LeBow College of Business, talks about the hype surrounding Apple, Inc.'s new iPhone.

Philadelphia Inquirer

Drexel University marketing professor Lawrence Duke noted that Apple aired commercials for the iPhone showing only 11 of the screen's icons, leaving the use for the 12th - since identified as a link to YouTube Inc. - a mystery. "They sort of manufacture the buzz," he said. "They put the information out there, but not all of it."

Philadelphia Inquirer

Drexel University marketing professor Lawrence Duke noted that Apple aired commercials for the iPhone showing only 11 of the screen's icons, leaving the use for the 12th - since identified as a link to YouTube Inc. - a mystery. "They sort of manufacture the buzz," he said. "They put the information out there, but not all of it."

Bloomberg.com

When the collateral in residential mortgage bonds is impaired, nothing will undo the losses,&#39;&#39; says <strong>Joseph R. Mason, associate professor of finance at Drexel University</strong> in Philadelphia. It's a static pool of investments, a brain-dead trust.''

RightSideAdvisors.com

The gist of Joseph Mason’s comments, Drexel University professor of finance is that the losses in the collateral of a structured finance – can’t come back. Foreclosed homes are often sold at a discount, and thus booked.

Los Angeles Times

"We know that these holdings are not unique to Bear Stearns," said Drexel University professor Joseph R. Mason, co-author of a recent study warning of dangers in securities backed by home loans to high-risk borrowers. "It would be hard to find a Wall Street firm that hasn't created similar funds."

Financial Post

"We know now that we really don't fully understand default risk in subprime bonds," said Joe Mason.

CNBC

Joe Mason, associate professor of finance, discusses whether the subprime crisis will spillover to other segments of the U.S. economy.

CNBC

Analysis of whether we've reached the tip of the housing iceberg, with Diana Olick, CNBC real estate reporter; Alex Barron, JMP Securities sr. housing analyst; Joseph Mason, Drexel University professor of finance and CNBC's Melissa Lee

Bloomberg

Joseph Mason, a finance professor at Philadelphia's Drexel University and a former economist at the U.S. Treasury Department, says the ratings are undermined by the disclaimers. I laugh about Moody&#39;s and S&amp;P disclaimers,&#39;&#39; he says. The ratings giveth and the disclaimer takes it away. Once you're through with the disclaimers, you're left with very little new information.''

Business Week

Calculations in the structured-finance arena factor in multiple borrowers, highly technical statistical models, and the arcane legal rules governing such deals. "Risk is getting mixed up, and the ratings agencies can't keep track of it," says Drexel University associate professor Joseph R. Mason.

WBBM Chicago Radio

"This is not just a subprime problem. This is a problem in markets that fund all bank loans right now," said Dr. Joseph Mason, associate professor of finance at Drexel University's LeBow College of Business.

DS News

Dr. Joe Mason speaks with Default Servicing News about economic conditions in the housing market.