Teaching

This advanced applications course brings recent advances in finance to bear on real-world challenges in investment management and corporate finance. The goal of this course is to develop a deeper understanding of how capital markets actually work, drawing on recent advances in modern finance. We discuss the implications for financial decision making by managers and investors. The course is intended for MBA1 students who are familiar with the foundations of finance, including discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis, internal rate of return (IRR) calculations, mean-variance analysis and the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). Examples of broad topics covered in the class include corporate capital structure decisions, challenges in portfolio management, performance analysis of mutual funds, hedge funds and private equity, IPOs, hedging of currency and interest rate risk, etc. To be eligible, students must have passed the placement exam in Week Zero, must have solid quantitative skills and have a willingness to analyze data.