PhD in Finance

Overview

In the last decade, the academic study of finance has experienced an infusion of new concepts and quantitative methodologies that places it among the most sophisticated and dynamic areas of business and economics. New developments in the traditional areas of finance-theory of rational investor portfolio choice, interpretation and determination of security prices, efficient corporate decision-making-have been approached from the perspective of a single integrating paradigm derived from economic theory. This has led to extensive joint teaching and research between the finance, applied economics, and accounting faculties. Academic contributions are having profound effects on financial practice.

COURSE CONTENTS:

Compulsory Courses:

Specialization Courses

Elective:

Seminar Courses:

Recommended:

Optional Courses

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

FIN 800: Introduction to Empirical Methods in Finance:

This course is an introduction to empirical methods commonly employed in finance. It provides the background for Intertemporal Macroeconomics and Finance, Empirical Research in Finance. The course is organized around empirical papers with an emphasis on econometric methods. A heavy reliance will be placed on analysis of financial data.

FIN 801: Applied Quantitative Methods in Finance:

The course has two main objectives. First, it seeks to provide the students with useful quantitative tools to understand and produce frontier research in finance. Second, it applies these tools to advanced topics in both corporate finance and asset pricing. A special emphasis is placed on new and recent research.

FIN 811: Empirical Research in Finance:

Rigorous treatment of current empirical research in finance. Applications of multivariate and nonlinear methods. Intertemporal and multifactor pricing models. Conditional distributions. Temporal dependence in asset returns.

FIN 813: Intertemporal Macroeconomics and Finance:

This is a doctoral level course on macroeconomics, with special emphasis on intertemporal choice under uncertainty and topics related to finance. Topics include: optimal consumption and saving, the stochastic growth model, q-theory of investment, (incomplete) risk sharing and asset pricing. The course will cover and apply techniques, including dynamic programming, to solve dynamic optimization problems under uncertainty. Numerical solution methods are also discussed.

FIN 816: Advanced Study Project in Finance:

Advanced Study Projects are specialized seminars that require individual or group projects. It usually requires a considerable amount of writing. An ASP seminar will be rigorous, meeting each week on a regular basis and including lectures, projects, and class discussion. Every semester a list of seminars offered will be published. Seminar in Investments and Financial Engineering are examples of some recent topics.

FIN 817: Corporate Restructuring:

The objective of this course is to familiarize students with financial, legal and strategic issues associated with corporate restructuring process. Main focus of the course will be on the restructuring of financially distressed firms. We will survey a variety of restructuring.

FIN 823: Topics in Asset Pricing:

This course will analyze several aspects of liquidity. Mostly, it will concentrate on liquidity as an asset's property of being traded quickly and at low cost, but the notion of availability of cash will also be studied. Particular attention will be devoted to exogenous transaction costs, asymmetric information and search frictions as determinants of asset liquidity and, consequently, price. We will also look at liquidity risk, institutional features arising as response to liquidity problems, and financing constraints. The course will concentrate on theoretical models, but the empirical literature will be referred to throughout.

FIN 824: Macrofinance

Overview of the workings of the financial sector of the macro economy; includes the roles of financial institutions, financial markets, macroeconomic policies, interest rates, and the flows of funds.

FIN 831: International Corporate Finance:

Analyzes financial problems corporations face that result from operating in an international environment. Major topics covered are corporate strategy and the decision to invest abroad, forecasting exchange rates, international portfolio diversification, managing exchange risk, taxation issues, cost of capital and financial structure in the multinational firm, and sources of financing.

FIN 835: Urban Fiscal Policy:

A detailed examination of the financing of local governments, suburbs, and center cities within the metropolitan economy.

FIN 836: International Financial Markets:

International Financial Markets is a course on international financial markets and exchange rates. Topics include pricing in the foreign currency and Eurocurrency markets, use of forward exchange for hedging, short-term returns and market efficiency in the international money markets, foreign currency options, international capital asset pricing, pricing of foreign currency bonds, currency swaps, Eurocurrency syndicated loans, foreign currency financing and exposure management.

FIN 841: Seminar in Corporate Finance:

Theories, paradigms, and models of nonfinancial corporations; investigates the theoretical foundations and empirical evidence regarding corporate resource allocation, capital structure decisions, and dividend policies; covers in detail contingent claim analysis, signaling theory, and agency theory.

FIN 842: Seminar in Insurance:

Reviews recent contributions to the insurance literature concentrating upon current issues and research methodology; requires students to review selected recent articles on a variety of topics; gives attention to application of finance and economic theory to insurance issues and to empirical techniques for testing hypotheses. Examples of issues include the application of asset pricing models to insurance pricing, portfolio optimization for insurance companies, capital markets and insurance cycles, moral hazard and adverse selection.

FIN 843: Seminar in Financial Intermediation:

Reports and explores research in areas of commercial bank models and behavior, bank structure and regulation, interest rate theories, financial markets, and the impact of macroeconomic policies and procedures on financial markets and institutions; discusses current research and research procedures.

FIN 844: Seminar in Real Estate Finance:

Examines theoretical and empirical research into selected problems in urban land economics.

FIN 845: Seminar in Investments

Investigates portfolio theory, CAPM, OPM, and arbitrage pricing theory theoretically and empirically; uses both mathematical statistics and modern econometric models to empirically analyze investment decisions and portfolio management.

FIN 837: Advanced Corporate Finance:

The objective of this course is to study the major decision-making areas of managerial finance and some selected topics in financial theory. The course reviews the theory and empirical evidence related to the investment and financing policies of the firm and attempts to develop decision-making ability in these areas. This course serves as a complement and supplement to Corporate Finance. Some areas of financial management not covered in Corporate Finance are covered in Advanced Corporate. These may include leasing, mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganizations, financial planning and working capital management, and some other selected topics. Other areas that are covered in Corporate Finance are covered more in depth and more rigorously in Advanced Corporate Finance. These include investment decision making under uncertainty, cost of capital, capital structure, pricing of selected financial instruments and corporate liabilities, and dividend policy.

FIN 872: Corporate Valuation:

The focus of this course is on the valuation of companies. Topics discussed include discounted cash flow techniques and valuation using alternative valuation techniques such as price multiples. Emphasis is on developing the required information for valuation from financial statements and other information sources.

FIN 847: Urban Fiscal Policy:

The purpose of this course is to examine the financing of governments in the urban economy. Topics to be covered include the causes and consequences of the urban fiscal crisis, the design of optimal tax and spending policies for local governments, funding of public infrastructures and the workings of the municipal bond market, privatization of government services, and public financial systems for emerging economies. Applications include analyses of recent fiscal crises, local services and taxes as important determinants of real estate prices, the infrastructure crisis, financing and the provision of public education, and fiscal constitutions for new democracies using South Africa as an example.

FIN 850: International Corporate Finance:

This course analyzes financial problems corporations face that result from operating in an international environment. Major topics covered are corporate strategy and the decision to invest abroad, forecasting exchange rates, international portfolio diversification, managing exchange risk, taxation issues, cost of capital and financial structure in the multinational firm, and sources of financing.

FIN 851: International Banking:

This course focuses on international financial institutions and international banking activities. We will examine how current and historical events are reshaping the industry. We will focus on the basic analytics of managing a bank's exposure to liquidity, credit, market and country risk. In addition, we will consider how to evaluate and compare the risk exposures and performance of individual banks. Throughout the semester we will discuss public policy issues such as international debt crises and regulation.

FIN 854: Funding Investments:

This course examines the available corporate securities that firms can use to finance investment. The course will focus on: (1) the design of these securities (Why do bonds have embedded options? What is the role of preferred stock?); (2) the issuing process for these securities (What do investment banks do? Is the underwriting process important for the cost of capital?); (3) the pricing of these securities (How are credit risk in bonds and loans priced?) The securities covered include corporate and junk bonds, bank loans, common and preferred equity, commercial paper, securitization, as well as some recent innovations. Other topics include: the role of embedded options in corporate bonds; the role of bank and loan covenants; the function of bond rating agencies; exchange offers; prepackaged bankruptcies; bankruptcy in Chapter 11; workouts; debtor-in-possession financing; and pricing credit risk. The course is designed to be complementary to Advanced Corporate Finance and Fixed Income Securities.

FIN 857: Behavioral Finance:

There is an abundance of evidence suggesting that the standard economic paradigm – rational agents in an efficient market – does not adequately describe behavior in financial markets. In this course, we will survey the evidence and use psychology to guide alternative theories of financial markets. Along the way, we will address the standard argument that smart, profit-seeking agents can correct any distortions caused by irrational investors. Further, we will examine more closely the preferences and trading decisions of individual investors. We will argue that their systematic biases can aggregate into observed market inefficiencies. The second half of the course extends the analysis to corporate decision making. We present the two themes of behavioral corporate finance: rational managers exploiting financial market inefficiencies and managerial decision making biases. We then explore the evidence for both views in the context of capital structure, investment, dividend, and merger decisions.

FIN 848: Financial Economics:

The objective of this course is to undertake a rigorous study of the theoretical foundations of modern financial economics. The course will cover the central themes of modern finance including individual investment decisions under uncertainty, stochastic dominance, mean variance theory, capital market equilibrium and asset valuation, arbitrage pricing theory, option pricing, and incomplete markets, and the potential application of these themes. Upon completion of this course, students should acquire a clear understanding of the major theoretical results concerning individuals' consumption and portfolio decisions under uncertainty and their implications for the valuation of securities.

FIN 855: Financial Institutions:

This course provides students with an overview of the basic contributions in the modern theory of corporate finance and financial institutions. The course is methodology oriented in that students are required to master necessary technical tools for each topic. The topics covered may include capital structure, distribution policy, financial intermediation, incomplete financial contracting, initial and seasoned public offerings, market for corporate control, product market corporate finance interactions, corporate reorganization and bankruptcy, financing in imperfect markets, security design under adverse selection and moral hazard, and some selected topics.

FIN 875: Continuous-Time Financial Economic:

This course covers some advanced material on the theory of financial markets developed over the last two decades. The emphasis is on dynamic asset pricing and consumption choices in a continuous time setting. The articles discussed include many classical papers in the field as well as some of the most recent developments. The lectures will emphasize the concepts and technical tools needed to understand the articles.

FIN 876: Financial Economics Under Imperfect Information:

General equilibrium and rational expectations. Foundations of the theory of information. Learning from prices in rational expectations equilibrium models. Moral hazard, adverse selection and signaling. Bidding theories.

FIN 899: Thesis