Economics 355:
Financial
Markets and Institutions -- Fall 2017
Professor: Mahmoud A. El-Gamal | Textbook: Mishkin, Frederic S. with Stanley G. Eakins, |
TA: Van T Ngo |
Financial Markets
and Institutions,
9th ed., Prentice Hall, 2018 https://www.vitalsource.com/referral?term=9780134448763 |
Classes: MWF
9:00--9:50, KWG 100 |
Office Hours: MW 1-2 or by appt, BKH 240 |
This course covers most aspects of financial markets and institutions at a highly non-technical level (with very rare exceptions). Its objective is to allow students to read any major financial newspaper or website and understand most articles therein, with a deep understanding of the economic forces at work.
Students will read most of the textbook, and will be tested on the material therein through multiple choice assignments (which account for 10% of the grade). Similar multiple choice questions on textbook material will account for half the grades in three midterm and one final exams. Practice multiple choice questions for the assignments and exams are available under the Quizzes tab.
The other half of each exam's grade will be based on short answers to questions regarding current events, which will be covered in class, and summarized with links in lecture slides posted under the Files tab, as well as in-class experiments conducted using Moblab.
The final exam is comprehensive and optional. The overall grade will be calculated based on the best three out of four exams. All exams, as well as assignments, will be conducted online on Canvas.
|
Mon | Wed | Fri |
(Tentative) Syllabus
|
Textbook Readings |
August |
21 |
23 | 25 | Introduction + overview + interest rates | Chs 1-3 |
Aug/September | 28 | 30 | 1 |
Interest rates + their risk + their term structure | Chs 4-5 |
4 | 6 | 8 |
Labor Day +
efficient markets + financial institutions |
Chs 6-7 | |
|
11 | 13 | 15 |
Central Banking + Monetary Policy | Chs 9-10 |
18 | 20 |
22 | Review of
Chapters 1-10 + Midterm I |
Chs 1-10 | |
25 | 27 | 29 |
Money + Bond + Stock Markets | Chs 11-13 | |
October | 2 | 4 | 6 |
Mortgage + ForEx Markets | Chs 14-15 |
9 | 11 |
13 |
Midterm Recess + Review of Chapters 11-15 + Midterm II |
Chs 11-15 | |
16 | 18 | 20 |
International
System + Banking |
Chs 16-17 | |
23 |
25 |
27 |
Financial
Regulation + Banking Industry |
Chs 18-19 | |
Oct/November | 30 | 1 |
3 | Review
of Chapters 16-19 + Midterm III |
Chs 16-19 |
6 | 8 |
10 |
Mutual Funds + Insurance | Chs 20-21 |
|
13 | 15 | 17 |
Investment Banks + Risk Management | Chs 22-23 | |
20 | 22 |
24 |
Review of
Chapters 20-23 +
Thanksgiving Break |
Chs 20-23 |
|
Nov/December | 27 | 29 |
1 |
Derivatives + Final Review |
Chs 1-24 |
|
Final Examination (optional), December 6--13 (registrar scheduled) |
|
Grading: |
|
Weekly Homeworks | 10 % |
First Midterm | 30 % |
Second Midterm | 30 % |
Third Midterm | 30 % |
Final Exam
(optional, comprehensive) |
30 % (sub) |