Testimonials from Academic Experts
Robert C. Merton, Finance, MIT
Prof. Merton is the one person most responsible for the creation of modern theoretical financial economics, and for its application in financial markets. He received the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1997.
"David Laughton has established himself as a leading researcher in the application of contingent-claims analysis to the evolution of large-scale capital budgeting problems. His work shows enormous care and attention to detail, which is necessary for effective implementation of this technology in both practice and empirical research. Professor Laughton's work on project evaluation is innovative and is flexible enough to incorporate multiple sources of information, including experts' judgements. He also has a good sense of what within his area will be relevant for managerial needs."
"This area of research is important and I believe it will become even more so in the future. Contingent-claims analysis has had a profound effect on finance practice for financial markets and institutions. I believe that with the successful experience there, it will now migrate to broad-based use in non-financial firms. As with its impact on the financial system, the impact of contingent-claims analysis on non-financial firms will be global."
The Journal of Energy Literature
Vol. 4(1) June 1998 p. 44
"Alongside a disillusionment with the traditional discounted cash flow methods of investment appraisal, interest has been growing in the area of modern asset pricing theory... It is then very appropriate for The Energy Journal to devote an entire issue (19(1), January 1998) to this area. Four substantive papers are presented, among which 'The Management of Flexibility in the Upstream Petroleum Industry' by the guest editor, David Laughton, represents the best available introduction to and primer of the subject..."
Donald Lessard, Finance, MIT
Prof. Lessard, a former Deputy Dean of the Sloan School of Management, is co-director of the BP Projects Academy. He has had a profound influence on our understanding of the use of modern finance in international financial management and corporate and national strategies.
"Dr. Laughton is working on a set of problems that have important theoretical dimensions and unquestioned practical importance."
"He is a central figure in resource economics/project evaluation and is having a significant impact on both theory and practice of project evaluation in general..."
Michael Dempster, Finance, Cambridge
Prof. Dempster is a leading figure, as a mathematician, computer scientist, economist, and management scientist, in the general field of stochastic optimisation, as well as the particular field of mathematical finance. He works actively with major financial insitutions and others on solving their large scale optimisation problems
"Dr. Laughton is on the leading edge of a small, demanding, but crucially important field for future corporate finance."
"His research is pioneering work in applying modern contingent claims analysis to practical project evaluation."
Paul Bradley, Economics, UBC (ret.)
Prof. Bradley designed the mineral royalty system currently used by British Columbia, and has been a consultant to other governments in the area of mineral taxation and mining and environmental regulation. He was also a Commissioner of the British Columbia Public Utilities Commission.
"Dr. Laughton is a pioneer in a very exciting field."
"His research is path breaking in its attempt to develop manageable algorithms... and to convey the intuitive sense of the underlying valuation processes. These are crucial considerations in bridging the gulf between theoretical advances and the practical needs of financial analysts."
Henry Jacoby, Economics, MIT
Prof. Jacoby is the former Director of the Senior Executives Programme at MIT, former Director of the MIT Center for Energy Policy Research, former Chair of the Faculty of MIT, and was the founding Co-Director of the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change.
"I believe Dr. Laughton will end up being the person most credited with bringing these techniques to practical application."
"I believe his materials are the clearest and most effective in the field."
James Hodder, Finance, Wisconsin
Prof. Hodder helped to introduce modern finance to the academic engineering profession while a senior member of the Faculty of Engineering at Stanford.
"Developing better approaches to large investment problems is of considerable importance since the investment sums are huge and the projects can have enormous social significance."
"In my view, Dr. Laughton is one of the most knowledgeable developers of numerical solution approaches for valuing complex investment projects."
