EMSF Course Descriptions

Managerial Economics

Application of basic economic concepts to the decision problems of the firm. Demand, supply, cost and profit functions, and capital budgeting are analyzed conceptually and with the use of quantitative tools to give them empirical content.

Corporate Finance : Theory and Applications

This course offers an introduction to corporate finance, with a strong emphasis on fundamental principles. Topics include capital budgeting under certainty and uncertainty, capital structure, dividend policy, external financing, financial distress, and the use of financial engineering to raise capital.

Quantitative Tools for Finance

This is a course in applied financial econometrics. The course will familiarize students with a number of tools needed to statistically analyze financial data and expose students to a number of important financial databases including the Reuters 3000 Xtra system, the Bloomberg information system, and the New York Stock Exchange TAQ database. The use of spread sheets to facilitate analysis will be developed. Tests of asset pricing models will be discussed.

Investment Theory and Applications

A variety of financial instruments and their valuation will be explored. Topics include the basis of financial engineering, dividend discount models, modern portfolio theory, bond valuation, and the management of interest rate risk. Concepts such as no-arbitrage pricing and diversification will be developed and applied.

Mergers and Acquisitions

Why and how firms merge and restructure and the effects on stock prices, capital structure (debt versus equity), and market power. The legal, ethical, and regulatory aspects of mergers will also be considered.

International Financial Markets

Covers such topics as foreign exchange markets and their role in international movements of funds Eurocurrency; Eurobonds; international stock markets, interaction among and integration of national and international money and stock markets; and regulation of Eurocurrency markets and flow of funds.

Seminar in Finance

Advanced analysis of special problems of financial management with particular emphasis on decision making under uncertainty. Applicable articles, problems, and cases will be assigned.

Options Markets

Study of options, including the following topics: the structure and operation of organized exchanges, investment strategies under different market scenarios, arbitrage pricing, the valuation of options as a mechanism to price corporate securities, portfolio insurance as a trading strategy, and recent developments in the options markets.

Risk Management and Control

This course analyzes the risk management function of business and other institutions with emphasis on methodology for risk analysis, techniques for risk and loss control, models for risk management policy relating primarily, though not exclusively, to non-speculative (insurable) risk.

Financial Statement and Analysis

In-depth study of the analysis and interpretation of financial statements by external decision makers. The course includes measures of liquidity, solvency, capital structure, return on investments, and operating performance. The impact of accounting conventions and alternative standards on analytical measures are also explored.