All students take the core courses in corporate finance, asset pricing, financial econometrics and economics. These core courses are all carefully integrated: the economics and econometrics courses apply theories and methodologies to finance, and the finance courses provide the underlying economic principles of financial practice.
Asset pricing
The asset pricing course covers the theory and practice of valuing claims to uncertain cash flows; for example, stocks and stock options, bonds and foreign-exchange instruments. The course covers standard material such as CAPM and the Black-Scholes formula, and some advanced material such as consumption-CAPM and pricing formulas for "exotic options". About half of the course is dedicated to the application of advanced statistical methods to the area of asset pricing and to practical work with real-world data.
Corporate finance
Corporate finance studies the financing, valuation and corporate governance of firms. During this course, you will learn the fundamental principles of financial accounting, the valuation of firms' assets and the determinants of firms' financial structures. You will be taught the key components of firms' financial decisions and the operation of financial markets, including new issues of securities, debt and dividend policy. You will learn about the relevance of different financial institutions to the financing of firms, the takeover process, corporate restructurings and financial distress.
Financial econometrics
The course in financial econometrics provides students with a background in the fundamentals of empirical modelling and testing in finance. This will allow you to better understand crucial concepts like risk, evidence and prediction.
Economics
Microeconomics is the study of how financial and commercial frameworks and conditions impact on individual situations and business units. During this course you will learn to apply the basic tools of market and firm analysis, game theory, incentive theory and auctions. In addition, the course will provide an introduction to fundamental ideas in macroeconomics, reinforced by lectures from leading policy experts.