MSc Economics (Finance) Options Course Descriptions
These courses are taught from February to early April. They are designed to familiarise students with the main elements of the relevant theory and to introduce students to a range of more advanced topics and recent developments in Economics.
Students taking the MSc in Economics (Finance) must take the following courses as their three "options" courses:
Asset Pricing
The aim of the module is to provide students with a good foundation in asset pricing, by using a blend of theoretical concepts, empirical evidence and some applications of the theory. The intention is for the students to increase their knowledge and understanding of modern finance theory. Within this context, the module covers the following topics: mean-variance analysis, the Capital Asset Pricing Model, the Arbitrage Pricing Theory, derivatives pricing; market microstructure with respect to Efficiency Market Hypothesis, security exchanges, asymmetric information and noise traders; behavioural finance and Individual portfolio choices.
Corporate Finance
The aim of the module is to develop students’ knowledge and understanding of corporate finance theory and empirical evidence, specifically in the areas of capital structure, payout policy, corporate governance, and new equity issues.
International Money And Finance
The course aims to cover the major recent developments in the field of International Money and Finance. There is of a blend of theoretical, applied econometric and institutional material. The course will consider: theoretical and applied aspects of exchange rate determination; the efficiency of foreign exchange markets; regimes of the international monetary system; the international transmission of macroeconomic shocks and the case for policy coordination; implications for the effectiveness of macroeconomic policies of alternative assumptions about wage-price flexibility in a standard open
economy macro-model; the operation of the European Monetary System and its effectiveness in aiding the convergence process.