Brandeis University

    ECON 171A: Financial Economics

    Instructor: Anne Laski
    Prerequisites: ECON 80a and ECON 83a or permission of the instructor.
    Course Description: This course is a ten week asynchronous online course covering topics related to financial economics, including investors’ attitudes toward risk, capital allocation, portfolio selection, asset pricing models (Capital Asset Pricing Model and Arbitrage Pricing Theory), the efficient market hypothesis, and fixed income markets.Lectures will consist of covering the theory, going over in-class examples, and online discussion. Problem sets will focus on real world applications of the lecture material and will be assessed for both the accuracy and presentation quality. Students should have a basic understanding of microeconomics, statistics, and algebra (see also prerequisites below). Most of the course’s activities will be asynchronous, but we will have some synchronous participation components. Finally, this course will require analysis in Microsoft excel or a similar program, and students will be expected to follow in-class examples and practice independently as a means to develop some basic proficiency.LEARNING GOALS:By the end of the course you will be able to:• Explain the fundamental principles of investment in financial marketso how investors make investment decisionso what determines returns and asset valuations• Develop quantitative models to inform decisions involvingo capital allocation o fixed income securities and bond markets• Apply principles and theories related to financial economics to current events in financial markets.• Develop a professional and persuasive presentation based on research and synthesis of learning materials.PREREQUISITES AND CO-REQUISITES:For this course students are expected to have completed Econ 80a (Microeconomic Theory) and 83a (Statistics for Economic Analysis). While the instructor will review some material from these prerequisite courses during lectures, such review will not serve as substitutes for completing the required courses.
    <br><b>This Economics course has prerequisites and requires a consent code to enroll in Sage. Please email the ECON Department Administrator Leslie Yancich at </span><a title="lesliey@brandeis.edu" href="mailto:lesliey@brandeis.edu" rel="noopener" target="_blank">lesliey@brandeis.edu</a><span> to have your prerequisites checked and to obtain a code to enroll. If you are a non-Brandeis Visiting Student, email </span><a title="summerschool@brandeis.edu" href="mailto:summerschool@brandeis.edu" rel="noopener" target="_blank">summerschool@brandeis.edu</a><span> and we will send you a enrollment consent code. If you follow our step-by-step guide to summer enrollment </span><a href="https://www.brandeis.edu/summer/registration/guide.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">https://www.brandeis.edu/summer/registration/guide.html</a><span>, you will use the code at step 7.
    Session: Extended
    Day: Online
    Time: Asynchronous
    Credit Hours: 4 Credits
    Course Format: 2009
    Brandeis Graduation Requirement Fulfilled: SS
    Enrollment Limit: 15 students
    Course Classification: Undergraduate Level Course
    Course Tuition: $3,100
    Course Fees: None
    Open to High School Students: No