Decoding the signals in private equity reports
Release Date: 07/23/2025
The ‘Professor of Uncertainty’ on AI
Chicago Booth Review Podcast
AI is untrustworthy. It hallucinates, making up information or extrapolating by itself. That might make it frustrating to use, but could it prove more of a feature than a bug? Chicago Booth’s Veronika Ročková uses statistical methods that exploit the randomness in AI responses to improve medical diagnoses, and even to classify galaxies more efficiently.
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Can virtual reality increase empathy?
Chicago Booth Review Podcast
Technology is typically thought of as driving humans apart. But could it be used to promote a sense of empathy with others? Chicago Booth’s Alex Imas tells us about an experiment he ran using an immersive virtual-reality installation. Virtual reality, Imas reckons, could be used to help us relate to other people in real life.
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Is self-awareness always a good thing?
Chicago Booth Review Podcast
We typically think of self-awareness as being a good thing. But if someone behaves badly and is aware that they’re behaving badly, is that worse than if they’re blissfully unaware? Chicago Booth’s Shereen Chaudhry has conducted research into the effects of self-awareness. When should we express self-awareness, and when should we convey that we weren’t as self-aware as we should have been?
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Do all loans have “a pound of flesh” clause?
Chicago Booth Review Podcast
Almost all companies borrow money – some of secured by assets they own, other debts unsecured. But is that distinction meaningful in the real world? Chicago Booth’s Raghuram Rajan talks about his research into corporate debt. In the past century, the amount of unsecured debt has soared. What’s the significance of that, and is it really unsecured?
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What investors look for in a startup pitch
Chicago Booth Review Podcast
What do startup founders need to do to get venture capitalists to invest? Do VCs invest in the right team, or the right idea? Do they invest where they can add value, or do they try to pick new businesses that are going to be winners from the start? Chicago Booth’s Steve Kaplan has surveyed venture capitalists to find out what they look for in startups, and he has a framework he uses to advise both founders and funders on how to pick winning companies.
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Why students lie about using AI
Chicago Booth Review Podcast
When students are asked if they use AI to do their work, many say they don’t. But when they’re asked if other students re using AI, many more say that they do. Should we conclude that they’re not being honest about their own AI use? Chicago Booth’s Alex Imas has conducted research on students and AI. Why is using AI such a taboo? And how should schools and colleges respond to its inevitable creep?
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Why is apologizing so hard?
Chicago Booth Review Podcast
It’s hard to say sorry, and it can be even harder to say sorry without following it up with whatever the other person did wrong. Why are apologies so hard? Chicago Booth’s Shereen Chaudhry has conducted research into the strategy of apologizing and blaming. Why do we care so much about others accepting their share of the blame? And when we know that we’ve done wrong, what’s holding us back from apologizing?
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Trumponomics: How robust are America’s institutions?
Chicago Booth Review Podcast
The Trump administration has gutted central government, lashed out at the Federal Reserve, and is attempting to dismantle the international trading order. Can America’s institutions survive? We hear from Chicago Booth’s Raghuram Rajan about the role of institutions in political economy. Are we seeing a reversal of fortunes, in which the US is looking more and more like a caricature of a poor country with poorly regarded institutions, growing inequality and a looming sovereign debt crisis?
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Decoding the signals in private equity reports
Chicago Booth Review Podcast
Private equity investments are typically locked up for many years, which means investors don’t know at any point in time how much their stakes are worth. Should they take at face value the valuations that PE firms provide? Chicago Booth’s Steve Kaplan has detected patterns in private equity valuation reports that reveal whether the company will be sold at a premium, and when that exit might happen. So how can investors get a better sense of when and how big their payoffs will be?
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Should we pay coal miners to go to college?
Chicago Booth Review Podcast
In recent decades, many manufacturing workers in developed economies have lost their jobs, replaced by robots or cheaper imports. One option is to try to get those jobs back. Another is to retrain them to acquire skills that are in demand. But does it really make sense to send displaced manual workers to college? Chicago Booth’s Anders Humlum talks about his research on retraining injured workers, which suggests that paying them to go to college reaps big returns. Is the same true for workers who lose their jobs to automation or trade?
info_outlinePrivate equity investments are typically locked up for many years, which means investors don’t know at any point in time how much their stakes are worth. Should they take at face value the valuations that PE firms provide? Chicago Booth’s Steve Kaplan has detected patterns in private equity valuation reports that reveal whether the company will be sold at a premium, and when that exit might happen. So how can investors get a better sense of when and how big their payoffs will be?