MFIN 508 - Financial Markets and Institutions

Syllabus

Course Outline

Lecture 1: An overview of the financial system and the fundamentals of financial institutions

• Lecture notes

• The flow of funds system

• Corporate finance supplement

• Greenspan on commercial banks and the central bank in a market economy

• Akerlof on the market for "lemons"

• Summers of moral hazard fundamentalists

Lecture 2: Understanding the fundamentals and behavior of interest rates

• Foundations for interest rates

• Prices and yields for bonds and money market instruments

• The term structure of interest rates

• Interest rate risk and asset prices (EXCEL supplement)

• The default-risk structure of interest rates

Lecture 3: The stock market and the theory of rational expectations

• Efficient market hypothesis

• Shiller on behavioral finance

Lecture 4: Central banking and the conduct of monetary policy

• Basci on central bank and monetary policy (Turkish)

• Kara and Orak on inflation targeting (Turkish)

• Macroeconomic indicators in Turkey as of September 2009 (Source: TCMB)

• Mishkin on how should we respond to asset price bubbles?

Lecture 5: Commercial banks and regulation

• Bank lending lecture notes (optional reading)

• Credit risk transfer (CRT) mechanisms

Lecture 6: Private equity

• Venture capital funds

• Leveraged buyout (LBO) funds

Lecture 7: Investment banks and securities issuance

• Ritter on investment banking

• Overview of the equity markets and the IPO process

Lecture 8: Investment companies (e.g., mutual funds, hedge funds)

Contents written by Cem Demiroglu
Last modified on December 27, 2009.