Course Description
The course is designed to introduce important topics in finance and economics with both theoretical and empirical focus.
In the finance section, we will provide students with solid financial theoretical frameworks in four areas, namely, corporate finance, asset pricing, derivatives and behavioral finance. The topics include valuation of stocks and bonds, WACC, capital structure, IPO, risk and return, the equilibrium asset pricing models (CAPM, multi-factor models, etc.), options and behavior finance. Besides theoretical frameworks, recent developments in empirical studies will also be covered. Selected topics from the four finance areas will be discussed intensively through lectures and journal paper discussions.
In the economics section, students will receive necessary basic training in microeconomics, macroeconomics, and econometrics at advanced levels. Such training is designed to get students prepared for theoretical or empirical study in their thesis work. Some specialized topics will be introduced to students for intuitive discussion. They will see how theoretical models are formulated for those topics and how empirical tests are performed to derive significant results. The topics to be presented include export taxation, secured loans, financial crises, global imbalances, financial opening, income inequality, housing bubbles, exchange rates, capital controls, tourism development etc.
Intended Learning Outcomes
CILO-1: Identify some important issues in economics and finance in the recent literature.
CILO-2: Possess skills of modeling related issues based on standard macro- and micro- economics.
CILO-3: Conduct some basic design of hypothesis testing and regression analysis.
CILO-4: Identify important economic and financial issues worth research.