Financial Markets and Institutions

Course goals

Learning objectives
At the end of the course the student is able to:

• Apply theoretical models of economic and financial institutions
• Critically analyze the assumptions behind these theoretical models
• Discuss central debates on the role of financial institutions
• Distinguish between the impact of different monetary and fiscal policies
• Apply theoretical insights in a practical manner and analyze the effectiveness of economic policy in real world economies

Content

Topics
-       Macroeconomics and finance
-       Central banking
-       Monetary policy
-       Money creation
-       Interest rate setting
-       Government debt dynamics
-       The financial sector and economic growth
-       Financial institutions
-       Financial intermediation
-       Credit constraints
-       Financial crises and bubble formation
 
This course covers the fundamentals of financial markets and financial institutions. Monetary policy and the role of the central bank will be discussed, as well as topics on money creation and financial firms. Another part of the course studies the role of financial intermediaries to reduce information asymmetries and help overall economic growth.
 
The goal of this course is to form financial experts who can readily understand real world events and interpret the daily news in a way that allows them to reach non-trivial insights. By the end of the course the students will be familiar with the forces behind financial markets and will be able to tackle complex and urgent debates that are now being discussed in the news and academic literature.
 
Format
There will be lectures and tutorials. The lectures mainly focus on knowledge transfer and understanding the subject.
The tutorials focus on working out exercises from the book and typical exam questions. The tutorials mainly focus on getting the students to work, and to have time for students’ questions.

In case online access is required for this course and you are not in the position to buy the access code, you are advised to contact the course coordinator for an alternative solution. Please note that access codes are not re-usable meaning that codes from second hand books do not work, as well as access codes from books with a different ISBN. Separate or spare codes are usually not available.