printer friendly pageFINANCE 121: Undergraduate Finance Research and Discussion Seminar
This seminar is designed to provide some experience with research methods and topics in finance, and to assist undergraduates with career interests in financial research, whether academic or not, with preparation for those careers. The seminar meetings are weekly and discussion based, covering a range of issues and methods in financial economics. Students are expected to prepare a 30-minute research presentation once during the quarter.
Terms: Win
| Units: 1
Instructors:
Duffie, D. (PI)
FINANCE 201: Finance
This course covers the foundations of finance with an emphasis on applications that are vital for corporate managers. We will discuss many of the major financial decisions made by corporate managers, both within the firm and in their interactions with investors. Essential in most of these decisions is the process of valuation, which will be an important emphasis of the course. Topics include criteria for making investment decisions, valuation of financial assets and liabilities, relationships between risk and return, capital structure choice, payout policy, the use and valuation of derivative securities, and risk management. This course is targeted to those students who are new to finance and for those with little quantitative background.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
Instructors:
McQuade, T. (PI)
FINANCE 204: Finance - Accelerated
This course covers the foundations of finance with an emphasis on applications that are vital for corporate managers. We will discuss many of the major financial decisions made by corporate managers, both within the firm and in their interactions with investors. Essential in most of these decisions is the process of valuation, which will be an important emphasis of the course. Topics include criteria for making investment decisions, valuation of financial assets and liabilities, relationships between risk and return, capital structure choice, the use and valuation of derivative securities (e.g., options and convertible securities), and risk management.nnNo previous background in finance is required or expected, but in comparison with
Finance 201, less time will be spent in class on the steps involved in solving basic problems. Therefore, students choosing this course should be relatively comfortable with basic mathematical operations (e.g., expressions involving multiplication of multiple terms, summation of multiple terms, etc.), though familiarity with the underlying finance concepts is not expected. A good diagnostic is to skim Section 4.2 "Rules for Time Travel" (pp. 98-104) in the course textbook, Corporate Finance by Berk and DeMarzo. If you are comfortable with the level of basic mathematics involved (even if the concepts are new), 204 is a good choice. If not, you should consider
Finance 201.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
Instructors:
Bryzgalova, S. (PI)
FINANCE 205: Accelerated Managerial Finance (Lab-based Pilot)
This course covers the foundations of finance with an emphasis on applications that are vital for corporate managers. We will discuss many of the major financial decisions made by corporate managers, both within the firm and in their interactions with investors. Essential in most of these decisions is the process of valuation, which will be an important emphasis of the course. Topics include criteria for making investment decisions, valuation of financial assets and liabilities, relationships between risk and return, capital structure choice, payout policy, the use and valuation of derivative securities, and risk management. This course is targeted to those students who are new to finance and for those with little quantitative background.nnnNo previous background in finance is required or expected for this course. Content will be comparable to F201, but the majority of course lecture material will be delivered online, with in-class sessions devoted to applications of key concepts. This "flipped classroom" version of the course is intended for self-motivated students with an interest in applications. Prerequisite material for the course will be posted online in the fall.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
FINANCE 310: Finance - Advanced
This advanced applications course brings recent advances in finance to bear on real-world challenges in investment management and corporate finance. The goal of this course is to develop a deeper understanding of how capital markets actually work, drawing on recent advances in modern finance. We discuss the implications for financial decision making by managers and investors. The course is intended for MBA1 students who are familiar with the foundations of finance, including discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis, internal rate of return (IRR) calculations, mean-variance analysis and the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). Examples of broad topics covered in the class include corporate capital structure decisions, challenges in portfolio management, performance analysis of mutual funds, hedge funds and private equity, IPOs, hedging of currency and interest rate risk, etc. To be eligible, students must have passed the placement exam in Week Zero, must have solid quantitative skills and have a willingness to analyze data.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
Instructors:
Lustig, H. (PI)
FINANCE 320: Debt Markets
This course is intended for those who plan careers that may involve debt financing for their businesses or other investments, or involve trading or investing in debt instruments and their derivatives, including money-market instruments including central bank deposits, government bonds, repurchase agreements, interest-rate swaps, mortgage-backed securities (MBS), corporate bonds, structured credit products, and credit derivatives. We will emphasize institutional features of the markets, including trading, pricing, and hedging. There is a special focus on distressed debt. Most lectures will start with a cold-called student presentation of an un-graded short homework calculation. There will also be a series of graded homework, a take-home mid-term, and about six graded 'pop quizzes' of 10 minutes or less.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
Instructors:
Duffie, D. (PI)
FINANCE 332: The Politics of Finance
This course explores how economic and political forces interact to shape the financial system. The financial system is rife with conflicts of interests that markets fail to address effectively. The political process meant to correct these market failures, however, is itself rife with conflicted interests. We will discuss the roles, information and incentives of the key actors and show that politics often trumps economics in predictable ways. You will gain a better understanding of critically important and ongoing policy issues that will shape the financial system for years to come. Topics include the structure and role of banks and other financial institutions, housing and credit markets, central banks, global cooperation, governance and accountability, and the role of the media.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
Instructors:
Admati, A. (PI)
;
Schulz, H. (SI)
FINANCE 341: Modeling for Investment Management
This course will combine practical and up-to-date investment theory with modeling applications. Understanding beautiful theory, without the ability to apply it, is essentially useless. Conversely, creating state-of-the-art spreadsheets that apply incorrect theory is a waste of time. Here, we try to explicitly combine theory and application. The course will be divided into 6 modules, or topics. The first day of each module will be a lecture on an investment topic. Also provided is a team modeling project on the topic. The second day of each module will be a lab. The lab day will begin with modeling concepts (tips) designed to help you use Excel to implement the module's investment topic. After the tips are provided, the remainder of the lab day is devoted to teams working on their modeling project and allowing for Q&A. On the third day of each module will be presentations and wrap-up.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
Instructors:
Grenadier, S. (PI)
;
Watson, J. (SI)
FINANCE 345: History of Financial Crises
Financial crises are as old as financial markets themselves. There are many similarities between historical events. The 2007/8 credit crisis, for example, is far from unique. More often than not financial crises are the result of bubbles in certain asset classes or can be linked to a specific form of financial innovation. This course gives an overview of the history of financial crises. We go back almost 400 years and start with the Tulip mania of 1636. From there we will slowly make our way back to today, encountering many crisis episodes that are relevant from today¿s point of view. The purpose of the course is to understand the causes of past crises and to develop a conceptual framework that ties common elements together. We will discuss the lessons that we can draw for financial markets today.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
Instructors:
Koudijs, P. (PI)
FINANCE 347: Money and Banking
This course is designed to help students understand the connections between money (the Federal Reserve), financial markets, and the macroeconomy. How are interest rates determined, and how does the Federal Reserve conduct monetary policy? What economic factors drive the yield curves in different bond markets? We will pay particular attention to the banking system, with an eye toward understanding the function and importance of banks. Topics will include the role of the Federal Reserve as a lender of last resort during the recent, and prior, financial crises, unconventional monetary policy tools such as quantitative easing and forward guidance. We discuss the role of the government in regulating the financial sector, paying particular attention to capital requirements for banks. We will often begin class with a discussion of current macro-financial market events in the context of our course coverage. The course is appropriate for anyone trying to gain a macroeconomic perspective on capital markets, from investors to bankers, or those simply interested in the linkages between interest rates, banks and the economy. Given the topics we cover, the course will also be interesting to those who want a better understanding of the 2007-2009 financial crisis and the ongoing Federal Reserve experiment in unconventional monetary policy.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
Instructors:
Krishnamurthy, A. (PI)
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