Professor Timothy Falcon Crack is a Professor Emeritus of Finance. He joined the department as a chaired full professor in 2004, and retired in 2021. He maintains an office at the University of Otago and continues to mentor junior faculty and to meet with students.
Professor Crack did PhD coursework at MIT and Harvard, and graduated with a PhD in Financial Economics from MIT. He holds degrees in Mathematics (with a lot of Statistics), Finance, and Financial Economics, and a diploma in Accounting/Finance. He also holds the Investment Management Certificate from the UK Society of Investment Professionals.
Professor Crack has worked as an independent consultant to the New York Stock Exchange and to a foreign government body investigating wrongdoing in the financial markets. His most recent practitioner job was as the head of quantitative active equity research for the UK and Continental Europe in the London office of what was the world's largest institutional asset manager. He also taught undergraduate, MBA, and PhD courses at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business. He has won six university teaching awards and been nominated for at least five others.
Professor Crack has supervised or co‑supervised more than a dozen graduate students, including at least a half-dozen PhDs.
Research interests
Empirical capital markets
Quantitative active equity trading strategies
Derivatives
Econometrics
Market microstructure
Job interview techniques for finance practitioners and academics
Mathematics, statistics and finance pedagogy
Journal articles and books
Professor Crack has published in the top academic journal in Finance (The Journal of Finance), the top practitioner-oriented journals in Finance (The Financial Analysts Journal and The Journal of Futures Markets), and the top pedagogical journal in Finance (The Journal of Financial Education). He has also published in what was the top interdisciplinary Business journal (The Journal of Business). He has also published in Physica A, Accounting and Finance, and a half-dozen other journals.
DebtBanana (XLS) – to accompany “Credit Cards, Excess Debt, and the Time Value of Money,” published in the Journal of Financial Education.
Publications
Crack, T. F. (2023). Heard on the street: Quantitative questions from Wall Street job interviews (24th ed.). Dunedin, New Zealand: Timothy Crack, 400p.
Authored Book - Other
Arnold, T., Crack, T. F., Marshall, C. D., & Schwartz, A. (2023). Introducing a real option framework for EVA/MVA analysis. Engineering Economist. Advance online publication.
Journal - Research Article
Crack, T. F. (2023). Don’t put much stock in Herst’s ticker-tape covers. American Philatelist, 137(8), 696-697. [Letter].
Journal - Professional & Other Non-Research Articles
Crack, T. F. (2022). Foundations for scientific investing: Capital markets intuition and critical thinking skills (12th ed.). Dunedin, New Zealand: Timothy Crack, 730p.
Authored Book - Other
Butler, A. W., & Crack, T. F. (2022). A rookie's guide to the academic job market in finance: The labor market for lemons. Financial Review, 57, 775-791. doi: 10.1111/fire.12317
Journal - Research Article
Crack, T. F. (2022). Basic Black-Scholes: Option pricing and trading (6th ed.). Dunedin, New Zealand: Timothy Falcon Crack, 260p.
Authored Book - Other
Crack, T. F. (2022). Foundations for scientific investing: Capital markets intuition and critical thinking skills (11th ed.). Dunedin, New Zealand: Timothy Crack, 730p.
Authored Book - Other
Crack, T. F. (2022). Heard on the street: Quantitative questions from Wall Street job interviews (23rd ed.). Dunedin, New Zealand: Timothy Crack, 378p.
Authored Book - Other
Arnold, T., Crack, T. F., & Schwartz, A. (2022). Embedding a net present value analysis into a binomial tree with a real option analysis. Managerial & Decision Economics, 43, 2924-2934. doi: 10.1002/mde.3572
Journal - Research Article
Crack, T. F. (2021). 24 essential tips for selling print replica ebooks on Amazon: How to capture new readers by turning your physical book into an ebook. Dunedin, New Zealand: Timothy Falcon Crack.
Authored Book - Other
Crack, T. F. (2021). Basic Black-Scholes: Option pricing and trading (5th ed.). Dunedin, New Zealand: Timothy Falcon Crack, 284p.
Authored Book - Other
Crack, T. F. (2021). Foundations for scientific investing: Multiple choice, short-answer, and long-answer test questions (7th ed.). Dunedin, New Zealand: Timothy Crack, 324p.
Authored Book - Other
Crack, T. F. (2021). Heard on the street: Quantitative questions from Wall Street job interviews (22nd ed.). Dunedin, New Zealand: Timothy Crack, 372p.
Authored Book - Other
Crack, T. F. (2021). Interviews with top university teachers: How to build quality teaching, inspire your students, and create more time for research. Dunedin, New Zealand: Timothy Falcon Crack.
Authored Book - Other
Chaput, J. S., Crack, T. F., & Onishchenko, O. (2021). What quantity appears on the vertical axis of a normal distribution? A student survey. Journal of Statistics & Data Science Education, 29(2), 192-201. doi: 10.1080/26939169.2021.1933658
Journal - Research Article
Crack, T. F. (2017). How to ace your business finance class: Essential knowledge and techniques to master the material and ace your exams (3rd ed.). Dunedin, New Zealand: Timothy Falcon Crack.
Authored Book - Other
Crack, T. F., & Roberts, H. (2015). Credit card balances and repayment under competing minimum payment regimes. Review of Quantitative Finance & Accounting, 45(4), 785-801. doi: 10.1007/s11156-014-0455-3
Journal - Research Article
Crack, T. F., & Roberts, H. (2015). Credit cards, excess debt, and the time value of money: The parable of the debt banana. Journal of Financial Education, 41(1), 117-137.
Journal - Research Article
Tajaddini, R., Crack, T. F., & Roberts, H. (2015). Price and earnings momentum, transaction costs, and an innovative practitioner technique. International Review of Finance, 15(4), 555-597. doi: 10.1111/irfi.12065
Journal - Research Article
Crack, T. F. (2014). Basic Black-Scholes: Option pricing and trading (3rd ed.). Dunedin, New Zealand: Timothy Falcon Crack, 264p.
Authored Book - Other
Crack, T. F. (2014). Foundations for scientific investing: Capital markets intuition and critical thinking skills. Dunedin, New Zealand: Timothy Falcon Crack, 484p.
Authored Book - Other
Crack, T. F. (2014). Foundations for scientific investing: Capital markets intuition and critical thinking skills (2nd ed.). Dunedin, New Zealand: Timothy Falcon Crack, 484p.
Authored Book - Other
Crack, T. F. (2014). Foundations for scientific investing: Capital markets intuition and critical thinking skills (3rd ed.). Dunedin, New Zealand: Timothy Falcon Crack, 491p.
Authored Book - Other
Crack, T. F. (2014). Foundations for scientific investing: Multiple choice, short-answer, and long-answer test questions. Dunedin, New Zealand: Timothy Falcon Crack, 204p.
Authored Book - Other
Crack, T. F. (2014). Heard on the street: Quantitative questions from Wall Street job interviews (15th ed.). Dunedin, New Zealand: Timothy Falcon Crack.
Authored Book - Other
Crack, T. F. (2014). Pocket heard on the street: Brain teasers, thinking questions, and non-quantitative questions from finance job interviews. Dunedin, New Zealand: Timothy Crack, 102p.
Authored Book - Other
Crack, T. F. (2014). Pocket heard on the street: Quantitative questions from finance job interviews. Dunedin, New Zealand: Timothy Crack, 196p.
Authored Book - Other
Withanawasam, R. M., Whigham, P. A., & Crack, T. F. (2013). Characterising trader manipulation in a limit-order driven market. Mathematics & Computers in Simulation, 93, 43-52. doi: 10.1016/j.matcom.2012.09.012
Journal - Research Article
Withanawasam, R. M., Whigham, P. A., & Crack, T. F. (2013). Characterizing limit order prices. Physica A, 392(21), 5346-5355. doi: 10.1016/j.physa.2013.06.060
Journal - Research Article
Crack, T. F., & Roberts, H. (2013). Credit cards, excess debt, and the time value of money: The parable of the debt banana. Proceedings of the New Zealand Finance Colloquium. Retrieved from http://www.nzfc.ac.nz/archives/2013/programme/
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper
Sabharwal, S. K., & Crack, T. F. (2012). Growth beats value on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Finance India, XXVI(2), 421-438.
Journal - Research Article
Tajaddini, R., & Crack, T. F. (2012). Do momentum-based trading strategies work in emerging currency markets? Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions & Money, 22(3), 521-537. doi: 10.1016/j.intfin.2012.02.002
Journal - Research Article
Arnold, T., Crack, T. F., & Schwartz, A. (2011). Inferring risk-averse probability distributions from option prices using implied binomial trees. In G. N. Gregoriou & R. Pascalau (Eds.), Financial econometrics modeling: Derivatives pricing, hedge funds and term structure models. (pp. 35-52). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Chapter in Book - Research
Crack, T. F., & Ledoit, O. (2010). Central limit theorems when data are dependent: Addressing the pedagogical gaps. Journal of Financial Education, 36, 38-60.
Journal - Research Article
Trethewey, S., & Crack, T. F. (2010). Price momentum in the New Zealand stock market: A proper accounting for transactions costs and risk. Accounting & Finance, 50(4), 941-965. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-629X.2010.00355.x
Journal - Research Article
Whigham, P. A., Withanawasam, R., Crack, T., & Premachandra, I. M. (2010). Evolving trading strategies for a limit-order book generator. Proceedings of the IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC). (pp. 2467-2474). doi: 10.1109/CEC.2010.5586114
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper
Crack, T. F. (2009). Basic Black-Scholes: Option pricing and trading (2nd ed.). Dunedin, New Zealand: Timothy Falcon Crack, 236p.
Authored Book - Other
Crack, T. F. (2008). Heard on the street: Quantitative questions from Wall Street job interviews (11th ed.). Dunedin, New Zealand: Timothy Falcon Crack, 270p.
Authored Book - Other
Crack, T. F. (2007). Heard on the street: Quantitative questions from Wall Street job interviews (10th ed.). Dunedin, New Zealand: Timothy Falcon Crack, 268p.
Authored Book - Other
Arnold, T., Crack, T. F., & Schwartz, A. (2007). Valuing real options using implied binomial trees and commodity futures options. Journal of Futures Markets, 27(3), 203-226.
Journal - Research Article
Arnold, T., Crack, T. F., & Schwartz, A. (2006). Implied binomial trees in Excel without VBA. Journal of Financial Education, 32, 37-54.
Journal - Research Article
Arnold, T., Crack, T. F., & Schwartz, A. (2006). Valuing real options using implied binomial trees and commodity futures options. Proceedings of the 10th Annual New Zealand Finance Colloquium. Retrieved from http://www.nzfc.ac.nz/archives/2006/Schedule_HelpDesk.htm
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper
Crack, T. F., & Nawalkha, S. K. (2005). Common fallacies concerning duration and convexity. In S. K. Nawalkha, G. M. Soto & N. A. Beliaeva (Eds.), Interest rate risk modeling: The fixed income valuation course. (pp. 27-43). Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons.
Chapter in Book - Research
Arnold, T., Butler, A. W., Crack, T. F., & Zhang, Y. (2005). The information content of short interest: A natural experiment. Journal of Business, 78(4), 1307-1335.
Journal - Research Article
Crack, T. F. (2004). Basic Black-Scholes: Option pricing and trading. Lavergne, TN: Author, 296p.
Authored Book - Research
Crack, T. F. (2004). Heard on the street: Quantitative questions from Wall Street job interviews (9th ed.). Lavergne, TN: Author, 280p.
Authored Book - Research
Arnold, T., & Crack, T. F. (2004). Using the WACC to value real options. Financial Analysts Journal, 60(6), 78-82.
Journal - Research Article
Arnold, T., Butler, A. W., Crack, T., & Altintig, A. (2003). Impact: What influences finance research? Journal of Business, 76(2), 343-361.
Journal - Research Article
Crack, T. (2003). [Contribution of software to Black-Scholes takes over the HP12C (or HP 38C) by T. Hutchins]. HPCC Datafile, 22(3) 13-21. [Software contribution to journal article].
Other Research Output
Crack, T. (2003). [Contribution to Logic problems for money minds by P. Jenks & M. Hunt (Eds.)] Petersfield, England: Harriman House. 1-80. [Other Research Output].
Other Research Output
Crack, T. F., & Ledoit, O. (2002). Robust structure without predictability: The ″compass rose″ pattern of the stock market. In T. C. Mills (Ed.), Forecasting financial markets: The international library of critical writings in economics. (pp. 751-762). Edward Elgar Pub Published.
Chapter in Book - Research
Crack, T. F., & Nawalkha, S. K. (2001). Common misunderstandings concerning duration and convexity. Journal of Applied Finance, 11(1), 82-92.
Journal - Research Article
Crack, T. F., & Nawalkha, S. K. (2000). Interest rate sensitivities of bond risk measures. Financial Analysts Journal, 56(1), 34-43.
Journal - Research Article